Confidence in police dips despite violent crime falling

● Tories attack ‘soft touch’ system saying SNP’S approach undermines officers

The majority of crime in Scotland goes unreported, according to a new survey, which also found falling confidence in the police and concerns that criminals are not being punished properly.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey found that just 37 per cent of crimes were reported to Police Scotland in 2016-17.

The survey, based on interviews with almost 5,600 adults, also revealed that 39 per cent of people thought appropriate punishments were given to offenders.

Less than half (47 per cent) were confident about the efficiency of the justice system, but 78 per cent were sure that it allows for a fair trial.

The research revealed that adults experienced 712,000 crimes over the period, down 32 per cent from 2008-9, but unchanged since 2014-15.

More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of this was property crime such as vandalism or theft, with the remainder being violent crime such as assault or robbery. Violent crime was also down 27 per cent since 2008-9.

The figures suggested that there had been an increase of 45,000 violent crimes when 2016-17 was compared with 2014-15. But the authors of the Scottish Government study said the increase was not statistically significant.

When asked why crimes were unreported, the reasons given included the mat-