Police crime recording criticised
Most police forces in England and Wales are not reaching the national standard on recording crime, a report from the Audit Commission has found.
London’s Metropolitan Police, which deals with 18 per cent of recorded crime in Britain, had one of the worst records, the watchdog said.
The performance of the 43 forces had improved overall on last year but nearly two thirds (60 per cent) were still falling short of the national crime recording standard.
Using traffic light ratings, 17 forces were given a green light compared to 12 a year ago, 22 were amber compared to 21 in 2003, and four were given a red light, down from ten last year.
Home Office Minister Hazel Blears praised the “considerable efforts” made to meet the National Crime Recording Standard, which was introduced in April 2002.
“It is important to remember that, where forces have been identified as needing to improve performance in this area, this covers a broad mix of issues,” she said.
“These include issues around data management processes as well as the speed and clarity of recording of individual crimes.”
However, she accepted that “further work” was needed to ensure forces recorded all information “in the clearest and most efficient way”.
Despite the failings, the Audit Commission said that crime figures were broadly accurate. The statistics for violent crime were the least reliable, it said.
With regards to the Met’s poor rating, NAO chief executive Steve Bundred said the “key issue” was leadership and urged the force’s commissioner-designate, Sir Ian Blair, to tackle the issue more seriously.
The Met said it believed its crime figures were “robust” but said that the priority had been on putting officers on the street “rather than focusing on how we record incidents that…turn out not to be crimes”.
