Police and Crime Commissioners call for greater scrutiny of crime recording
Police and Crime Commissioners have previously welcomed the HMIC review of crime recording in forces, prompted by the review commissioned locally by one Police and Crime Commissioner. Across the country Police and Crime Commissioners are working with Chief Constables to bring in their own checks and balances to improve the accuracy of crime recording.
Today’s data from the Independent Office of National Statistics shows a 10 per cent decrease in overall crime between September 2012 and 2013, compared to the same period in the previous year.
Recorded crime has dropped to 3.7 million offences in the year ending September 2013, a decrease of 3% compared with the previous year.
Whilst crime overall is down over the reporting period, the number of shoplifting offence showed a 4% increase, theft from the person increased by 7% and the number of sexual offences recorded by the police has increased again to 17%.
Responding to these statistics, Tony Lloyd, Chairman of the APCC Board and Greater Manchester PCC said;
“Police and Crime Commissioners are not complacent about public confidence in crime statistics. My colleagues and I were concerned that the Office of National Statistics withdrew their official designation from all crime data recorded by the police. Police and Crime Commissioners are working closely with Chief Constables to ensure better consistency and scrutiny of crime recording at a local level. I am pleased that HMIC is currently carrying out a review of crime recording in forces, which I expect will assist Police and Crime Commissioners in ensuring greater accuracy, and note that this wider review followed an independent review that was commissioned by one of my colleagues locally.
“Whilst any reduction in crime is welcome as it means there are fewer victims, the increase in shoplifting and theft from a person is worrying. Police and Crime Commissioners see visible neighbourhood policing as a core duty of the police and we work closely with our forces to ensure local communities continue to feel safe.
“To ensure the public can have confidence in crime statistics, Police and Crime Commissioners will work with forces to improve local crime counting accuracy to strengthen integrity in the system.”
ENDS