Crime figures monitoring improves, says report
25 Oct 05
New national standard is ensuring consistent practice
A report published today has found that police forces across Scotland are now achieving consistent practice in recording reported crime, following the introduction of a new standard last year.
The report, "Meeting the Standard - A Thematic Inspection of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard", published by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, looks at how the new Scottish Crime Recording Standard has affected recorded crime figures locally and nationally, and makes recommendations to maintain the commitment to the SCRS and to develop its use.
Introduced nationally by the Association of Chief Police Offices in Scotland in April 2004, the SCRS followed recommendations from HMIC aimed at creating greater consistency in recording practices. It removes the need for a victim to provide corroborative evidence of a crime having been committed before it is formally recorded.
The report finds that forces have shown a strong commitment towards SCRS and introduced training, procedures and force crime registrars to ensure its correct application. The creation of an umbrella group to oversee change has helped achieve a standardised approach.
There remains scope for further improvements, and the report makes 14 recommendations including the development of standardised training, and more use of IT.
Publication of the report, available on the HMIC www.scotland.gov.uk/hmic, coincides with that of the first set of annual Recorded Crime in Scotland statistics to be collated since the introduction of the new standard. These show a 6% increase in the number of crimes recorded by the police in 2004-05, to 438,093.
Increases in recorded fireraising, vandalism, and some low level dishonesty can be attributed to the criterion that no corroborative evidence is now required to record an incident as a crime, as can a decrease in the clear-up rate from 47 to 45%.
The number of non-sexual violent crimes recorded decreased by 3%, to 14,700, whereas sexual crimes increased by 8% to 7,324. A record high in reported rapes and attempted rapes is partly attributable to the reporting of almost 100 historical crimes in Lothian and Borders, some dating back more than 40 years.