Western Daily Press (Saturday)
POLICE FAIL TO RECORD 8,000 CRIMES
‘INADEQUATE’ RATING:
GLOUCESTERSHIRE police fail to record nearly 8,000 reported crimes every year, a report has concluded.
Gloucestershire Constabulary has been rated “inadequate” by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) after an inspection was carried out into its crime recording.
The crime data integrity report said the 7,900 reported crimes which go unrecorded a year “deprives many victims of the services to which they are entitled”.
Of the 7,900 unrecorded reports a year, 4,200 of them were reports of violent crime.
The constabulary’s chief constable Rod Hansen said the incidents are “predominantly a recording failure, not a service failure”.
He added there has been a “lack of
understanding of the importance of crime recording but I want to stress we are fully committed to protecting the most vulnerable people in our communities and keeping everyone safe”.
Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl said he warned the constabulary “months ago it was failing in the area”.
Some of the crimes which went unrecorded include serious crimes such as sexual offences, rape and violence – many of which involved domestic abuse, the report found.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams said: “The force has demonstrated strong performance in other areas of policing, but must make immediate improvements at almost every stage of the crime recording process, otherwise victims will continue to be let down.
“Even when it has enough information from which to record a crime following an initial call, there are unnecessary and unacceptable delays. Call handlers obtain the information they need from victims in an empathetic manner and document it on the incident log.
“But the force doesn’t make enough use of it within subsequent crime-recording decisions. Too often this means it doesn’t record reported crimes at all. And on occasion this can lead to victims disengaging.
“However, it is important to acknowledge that our inspection did reveal some areas of good practice. The force has improved its recording of modern slavery offences. We were also impressed with the force’s Initial Investigations Team, which should provide a firm platform for improving the service to victims of crime.
“We hope that this report will act as a catalyst for improvement in how the force records crime.”
Twelve inspectors assessed the force’s crime data reporting from July 1 to December 31 2018, and estimated that the force fails to record more than 7,900 reported crimes each year.
As a result the force must make “immediate improvements”, the report said.
The report found:
■ 81.6 per cent of all crimes reported are recorded, leaving 7,900 reports a year not being recorded.
■ Violence against the person – 69.2 per cent of reported crimes are recorded, leaving 4,200 reports a year not being recorded.
■ Sexual offences: 83.3 per cent of reported crimes are recorded, leaving 210 a year not being recorded.
■ Rape: only 87 of the 117 audited rape reports were accurately reported.
■ Only 22 of 41 reported vulnerable victim crimes were recorded.
The report continued: “When officers and staff attend incidents or re-contact victims, they don’t fully understand their crime recording responsibilities.
“And when a victim doesn’t wish to pursue a report, often officers fail to record the crime.
“These mistakes are compounded by insufficient supervision, which limits the opportunities available to correct these decisions as soon as possible, combined with a lack of effective strategic governance arrangements.”
The report highlighted the constabulary is “failing vulnerable victims of crime”.
Of 397 crimes related to domestic abuse the force had not recorded 145, including 127 offences of violence, one sexual offence and 17 other crimes, the report said, adding failure to record domestic abuse crimes meant “many of them did not get investigated”.
A constabulary spokesman said the force has reviewed these cases and “in the vast majority a level of safeguarding was put in place”.
The report said: “Many of the unrecorded crimes were of a serious nature. The potentially harmful situations that some victims were left in without safeguarding from the police are unacceptable.
“We have serious concerns about the lack of understanding of the full extent of domestic abuse crime, the under-recording of these crimes and the absence of satisfactory services that should be provided to victims. Domestic abuse often involves victims who are particularly vulnerable to further offences being committed against them.
“The force’s under-recording of
The force must make immediate improvements at almost every stage of the crime recording process
HMICFRS REPORT
crime reports is partly due to its crime recording processes, its workforce’s poor comprehension of crime recording and a lack of supervisory intervention.
“The lack of senior level leadership and governance of crime recording arrangements has resulted in a lack of focus on improving crime recording.”
In total, 87 out of 117 audited rape reports were accurately recorded, the report said, branding it a “cause of concern”.
Of the 30 unrecorded rape reports, six were incorrectly classified as other crimes, 13 had not been recorded at all, and the remaining were incorrectly given a certain classification.
And 13 of 19 unrecorded crimes relating to vulnerable victims were child victims, including one rape, three other sexual offences, seven violence offences, one offence of child neglect and one offence of sharing indecent images of a child.
The report concluded: “Gloucestershire Constabulary’s crime recording arrangements are inadequate.
“It must now work hard to make the necessary improvements so that victims of crime can be confident their reports will be taken seriously, recorded and investigated.
“The force must improve its crime recording processes, make sure that officers and staff fully understand the standards expected of them, and supervise these standards effectively.”
The potentially harmful situations that some victims were left in are unacceptable HMICFRS REPORT