24,000 unrecorded

County force given lowest of all grades by watchdog

Almost 70 crimes a day including child sex attacks and rapes go unrecorded by Kent Police, a damning report has stated.

Serious failings mean more than 24,000 reported offences a year are not being included in official crime figures released by the county’s force.

A government watchdog says the force is “failing victims of crime” and has rated its performance “inadequate” – the lowest possible grading.

‘In particular, we consider that there are too many failures to make the correct crime-recording decision at the first opportunity’

The scathing review marks a dramatic slip in standards for Kent Police under Chief Constable Alan Pughsley, who was promoted to the top role in January 2014 – the same month the force was commended for its “crimerecording accuracy”.

He has been forced to publicly apologise to victims following the release of the latest report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

It found that between June and November last year Kent Police had failed to record one in six offences, including 20% of all violent crimes.

Among those not recorded was a report of GBH by a woman who told officers she had previously had her arm broken by her partner.

“The historic report was not recorded in the incident record and as a result no crime was recorded,” the report says.

“The recording rate for violent crime is a particular cause of concern at only 79.2%. This means that on too many occasions the force is failing victims of crime.”

Inspectors also found that more than 400 sex crimes a year are going unrecorded, among them 10 reports of rape, as well as sex assaults on adults and children.

“Sexual offence victims require significant support from the outset,” the report says. “The failure to record such crimes, to provide appropriate support to the victim, or any delay in attendance or investigation will often result in a lack of confidence in the police and reluctance on behalf of the victim to engage in subsequent stages of the criminal justice system. The force must improve its performance in this respect.”