Who is really to blame for the Hatton Garden security box theft?

Detective chief inspector Paul Johnson speaks to the press outside Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd in London. Why is the finger being pointed at the police, wonders John Birtill. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

So the owners of an expensive and secretive private depository for valuables worth many millions of pounds normally make no security checks on the premises over a four-day holiday weekend. The owners pay another company to monitor the alarms, but when an alarm goes off its only action is to log the event with the police. Neither company sends security staff to check why an alarm has gone off, or expresses any concern at the time that the police, for whatever reason, did not intend to visit the premises.

Why exactly are the police at fault in this (Police failed to respond to Hatton Garden intruder alarm, 11 April)? Why always knock the public service first, even when private enterprises are so obviously lax in their duties?
Dr John Birtill
Guisborough