Tens of thousands of crimes not recorded properly

New report from Watchdog brands Merseyside Police crime recording 'inadequate'

Published 9th Feb 2017

Police are failing to properly record tens of thousands of crimes including rape, a watchdog has warned.

Inspectors raised concerns after assessing the accuracy of crime recording at four forces - Merseyside, Northumbria, Devon and Cornwall, and Avon and Somerset.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) judged Merseyside Police as "inadequate'' after finding that it records only around 84% of crimes reported to it.

It estimated that the force fails to record more than 19,200 reported crimes each year.

"Those failings are depriving many victims of the services to which they are entitled and are a cause of concern,'' the report said.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Mike Cunningham said it was clear from the inspection that crime recording processes within Merseyside Police are "not fully effective''.

He added: "It was a cause of great concern that we found that even serious offences such as violent crime and sexual offences were not being recorded correctly.

"We also found examples of domestic abuse being under-recorded.''

He said the force needs to improve its understanding of the crime-recording standards expected of them, and ensure these standards are supervised effectively.

Devon and Cornwall Police was also rated as "inadequate'' on the issue, with HMIC finding that it records around 82% of reported offences.

The watchdog estimates therefore that the constabulary is failing to record more than 17,400 reported crimes each year.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams said: "I was most concerned to find that the force had failed to record reports of rape, serious sexual assault and offences of serious assault and human trafficking.''

She said victims in the force area are not receiving a good enough service when they initially report crime.

Avon and Somerset and Northumbria forces were found to be recording around 90% and 93% of crimes reported to them respectively.

Both were judged as "requiring improvement'' in the area.

Inspectors estimated that more than 13,700 reports of crime are not being recorded by Avon and Somerset each year.

The force is under-recording serious offences such as rape and modern slavery crimes, HMIC found.

Northumbria Police is estimated to be failing to record 7,300 crimes annually, including violent offences and rape, the watchdog said.

Processes within the force were said to be "deficient'' - leading to errors in how crimes are recorded.

The forces are the latest to come under scrutiny as part of rolling inspections looking at the crime data "integrity'' of every police force in England and Wales.

HMIC announced the programme in November 2015 after finding the national average of under-recording of crimes stood at an "inexcusably poor'' 19%.