Police board criticised for failure over crime rates

The body set up to hold Police Scotland to account has been criticised after it failed to ask a single question about recently published crime statistics showing a rise in violent and sexual offences.

Figures released earlier this week by the Scottish Government showed recorded crime has risen for the first time in more than a decade, while less than half of offences are solved by police.

But at its bimonthly public meeting in Stirling yesterday, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board chose not to ask Chief Constable Iain Livingstone about the figures.

According to the statistics published on Tuesday, non-sexual crimes of violence increased by 1 per cent in 2017/18, while there was 13 per cent rise in sexual offences, including a 20 per cent increase in rapes and attempted rapes.

Liam Kerr, justice spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: “It is astonishing that board members of the SPA failed to discuss the deeply concerning rise in crime and the equally worrying fall in clear-up rates. The SPA must provide the leadership promised, ensure the continuous improvement of policing and hold the chief constable to account.”