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User Guide to Recorded Crime Statistics in Scotland

1. Mobile phone offences 42 Seat belt offences Other Seat belt offences Includes 43 Driver s neglect of traffic directions not pedestrian crossing Driver s contravention of pedestrian crossing regulations Motorway traffic offences Motor vehicle records of work e g tachograph offences Accident offences Parking offences 11 Structure of crime and offence classifications On occasion the structure of the classifications used to compile recorded crime statistics may change Importantly however the overall number of crimes and offences are not reduced in any way There has been no change to the coverage of crimes and offences in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin series and most changes are presentational with some crimes or offences moving between crime groups or being separated out of the existing top 35 categories or crime codes If any crime codes are merged all crimes and offences that would have previously been recorded under the individual crime codes will still be recorded under the new combined crime code The main drivers for any structural changes in the crime and offence classifications are the implementation of new legislation or the desire for crimes and offences to be separately identifiable 11 1 Changes to crime and offence classifications Details of changes in crime and offence classifications from 2004 05 onwards are shown this includes any known future changes If any crime codes are
2. The Reconviction Rates in Scotland bulletin presents reconviction rates for offenders released from custody or given non custodial sentences These are broken down by age sex sentence type main crime conviction history and geographical area Recidivism is where someone who has received some form of criminal justice sanction such as a community sentence or a fine and goes on to commit another offence Therefore determining recidivism is important as it illustrates the effectiveness of the criminal justice system on the punishment and rehabilitation of offenders Reconviction rates are a proxy measure for recidivism as reconvictions are a subset of actual reoffending Not all offences which are committed will necessarily result in a conviction in court For example not all offences are reported to the police while some of those that are reported and recorded do not result in an offender being identified charged and a report being sent to the Procurator Fiscal For cases which are reported to the Procurator Fiscal it may be decided to take no proceedings or to employ some alternative to prosecution such as a warning letter or a fiscal fine Where persons are prosecuted the proceedings may end up being dropped e g witnesses fail to turn up or accused is acquitted The Reconviction Rates in Scotland bulletins can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubReconvictions 71 18 Comparabil
3. When calculating the rates of crimes and offences per 10 000 population the relevant mid year population estimates produced by the National Records of Scotland are used The mid year population estimates can be accessed here http www nrscotland gov uk statistics and data statistics statistics by theme population population estimates mid year population estimates Index rates per 10 000 population are additionally presented in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin The base figure used in all such indices is the Scotland figure with Scotland having an index value of 100 The indices are calculated as follows area of interest per 10 000 population rate x 100 Scotland per 10 000 population rate 1 The indices allow different geographic areas to be compared to each other in relation to how they compare to the Scottish level An index value of over 100 means the area of interest has a higher level than Scotland and vice versa 57 14 Revisions policy In the past recorded crime data has been supplied to the Scottish Government by legacy police forces extracting it from their legacy force systems Statisticians in the Scottish Government s Justice Analytical Services Division would then undertake a series of validation checks on receipt of the data and query outliers with the police who may then have to re submit data before it could be considered finalised The data submitted was taken as a snapshot at the end of the financial year
4. In addition the Scottish Government responds to requests from various groups such as students looking for information to aid their studies and private sector organisations ranging from insurance companies who wish to know about crime in different parts of Scotland to utilities providers who want to ensure the safety of their employees before they visit particular areas The recorded crime data are also used to answer Parliamentary Questions Ministerial Correspondence and Freedom of Information requests as well as to provide briefing material to ministers The data are also used in the Scottish Government campaigns such as No Knives Better Lives In addition Recorded crime data are annually supplied for inclusion in international compendiums such as the Eurostat Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics and the United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems The Scottish Government receives numerous requests from students particularly those undertaking an Advanced Higher in Modern Studies on various crime related topics As a result a separate section for Student Enquiries has been developed on the Crime and Justice section of the Scottish Government website This provides a place where students can find links to material that should be of relevance to them and aid them in their studies The Student Enquiries section can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice E
5. 2006 e 3006 Corporate homicide Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 11 1 6 2009 10 Within the Vandalism etc category in Group 4 Fire raising vandalism etc the crime code 33001 Vandalism reckless damage and malicious mischief was removed and replaced with three separate crime codes 33012 Vandalism 33013 Reckless Damage and 33014 Malicious Damage This change will not affect comparability over time The crime code 59003 Taking distribution etc indecent photos of children was introduced and included in Group 6 Miscellaneous offences within the Other miscellaneous offences category This was done so that such offences could be separately identified Previously such offences would have been included within the same top 35 category under the crime code 59001 Handling obscene material It was not possible to disaggregate any crimes that would have been recorded as 59003 Taking distribution etc indecent photos of children prior to 2009 10 As some offences that would have previously been classified as 59001 Handling obscene material will no longer be classified as such caution should therefore be taken when comparing this crime code with previous years The following new crime codes were introduced as a result of new legislation and there was a requirement to identify these crimes and offences separately Group 5 Other crimes e 39019 Breach of adult at risk banning order Adult Support and Prot
6. Authority assessment ceeeceeee eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeenseeeeeeeeees 14 5 1 Scottish Government plans ccc eeeeeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneaaeees 14 6 Scottish Crime Recording Standard Crime Recording and Scottish Government Co nting NGS s Taea a a a uence a a a Buenos eens teeta 17 6 1 Recording a crime o oo eee eeeeeeetec cece eee eeeeeeeeaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeneenaaeees 18 6 2 Circumstances where a crime may not be recorded cccceeeeeeeeeeeteees 18 6 3 Crime recording TlOWwenala inset Ava vasan anata aiawalavasasauase 20 6 4 Scottish Government Counting Rules cccccceeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeeeteeeseeaeees 22 6 5 National Crime Recording Standard and Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime sssrini iaa ea i ie ae cease cath dadc tee Sie a dabei Ee 22 Pam 0a dla ll gle seee A R E enig We Pen re ee etre eee ere te Rana oe ere or 24 8 Crime Registrars structure And MEetiINGS cccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeeeenneeeeeeeees 26 8 1 lt SUPUCTUNG eienn nites ed ted one itt tid E tid E E tae 26 82 WIOGUINGS wie cae cate ccen vets ceca rade tae iiss Die aa a ca Ua a ce Dida cates Cuca a ceed meets 27 9 Datar gual Pepa core eee E E RE aa ae eat Mere eD tery Toe e Pree eee trea rere 28 9 1 e Police Scotland Audits siisii n a e a A arn 29 9 2 Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland audits 30 9 3 Technical report on the c
7. Drunk driving was renamed Driving under the influence to reflect the fact that this category includes offences relating to driving while under the influence of drugs as well as offences relating to drink driving 51 The crime code 4001 Causing injury etc by culpable and reckless conduct was introduced and included in Group 1 Non sexual crimes of violence within the Attempted murder and serious assault category This was done so that such crimes could be separately identified Previously such crimes would have been included within the same top 35 category under the crime code 4000 Serious assault This change will not affect comparability over time The following new crime codes were introduced as a result of new legislation and there was a requirement to identify these crimes separately Group 5 Other crimes e 39021 Breach of domestic abuse interdict Domestic Abuse Scotland Act 2011 e 39022 Breach of forced marriage protection order Forced Marriage etc Protection and Jurisdiction Scotland Act 2011 11 1 9 2012 13 From April 2012 it was possible to disaggregate crimes of Handling an offensive weapon and Drug crimes in prisons This resulted in the introduction of four new crime codes in Group 5 Other crimes 43004 Having in a prison an article with a blade or point 43005 Possession of a firearm in a prison 43006 Possession of an offensive weapon not elsewhere specified in a prison 44006 Bringing d
8. SCJS Each source has different strengths and limitations but together they provide a more comprehensive picture of crime than could be obtained from either series alone Further information on the SCJS can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice crime and justice survey The statistical return from which most of the figures in the Recorded Crime bulletin are taken is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the police in Scotland Only data from the Police Service of Scotland hereafter referred to as Police Scotland throughout this user guide are included in the main findings and tables included in the bulletin One return is made for each local authority in Scotland and these are aggregated to give a national total Additionally data on the total number of crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the British Transport Police the Ministry of Defence Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary in Scotland are included in the Statistical Notes section of each bulletin In addition to the annual Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin a number of companion bulletins based on police recorded crime data are published by the Scottish Government on homicide domestic abuse crimes and offences involving firearms and racist incidents Furthermore bulletins on drug seizures firearm certificates and police officer numbers are published by the Scottish Government on d
9. a Report of any incident Command amp C any source J Control incident record a Leave as incident No isit a crime ae deined by Scots Law Yes an the victim o No representative be traced Yes Further reasonable Does victim or enquiries to establish i No representative confirm as a if crime committed crime No Yes Yes Is there supporting evidence Sihe Maai of Is there any evidence on to the contrary probability a crime has occurred No Yes No Is the application o Do the counting R d See aa rules direct that a Yes ecoreasa Yes a N cfime tecord crime powers aPPropriales be raised Re classify as Yes Any subsequent C No Crime a Representative means a person reasonably assumed to be acting on behalf of the victim Bearing in mind that the police can act at the instance of the PF if an obvious serious crime has occurred Gis investigation and disposal J 21 vidence to the contrary No Remains recorded as a crime 6 4 Scottish Government Counting Rules The Scottish Government advise Police Scotland how crimes and offences should be recorded for statistical purposes otherwise known as the Scottish Government Counting Rules The Counting Rules provide a national standard for the recording and counting of crimes and offences recorded by Police Scotland known as recorded crime During an HMICS Inspecti
10. are issued by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service COPFS They are used to classify crimes and offences based on the relevant section of legislation that they fall under The detailed list of charge codes as approved by the COPFS is maintained and updated on a monthly basis by the Scottish Government Prior to publication it is circulated to Police Scotland crime registrars individuals within Police Scotland the Scottish Police Authority and to relevant individuals within partner justice organisations for comment All charge codes are mapped to crime codes Once any updates and or amendments have been agreed for each month the updated charge codes list is then published by the Scottish Government The latest version on the charge code list can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice DataSource chargecodes The crime code list is split into seven crime and offence groups Groups 1 to 5 are referred to as crimes and Groups 6 and 7 as offences Shown below are the seven crime and offence groups split into the 35 crime and offence categories referred to as the top 35 categories that are used in the presentation of recorded crime data The main types of crimes and offences included in each of the top 35 categories are also shown A full list of all the crime codes around 470 used by the Scottish Government to classify crimes and offences can be accessed in Excel format here http ww
11. be absent The Act created a number of new protective offences which criminalise sexual activity with children and mentally disordered persons There are separate offences concerning young children under 13 years and older children 13 15 years The new legislation will only apply to offences committed from 1 December 2010 Any offences committed prior to this date will be recorded using the previous legislation The new legislation resulted in some increases in Sexual crimes However it is likely that the effect will be to change the distribution of these crimes among the subcategories For example some crimes previously categorised as Lewd and libidinous practices will now be classified as Sexual assault The introduction of the new legislation resulted in some crimes that would previously have been classified in either the Breach of the peace or Other miscellaneous offences top 35 categories being classified as Sexual crimes Most of these are now classed in the top 35 category Other sexual crimes However it is not possible to quantify the number of crimes that this change affects Any sexual crime which occurred prior to 1 December 2010 will be recorded in line with the appropriate legislation in place at that time If the conduct occurred both prior to and after 1 December 2010 the appropriate offences under the old and new legislation are recorded Caution should therefore be taken when comparing Sexual crimes with previous
12. commit crime etc Abduction e ll treatment of mental patients e Drugging Prior to 2013 14 this group was known as Sexual offences as this corresponds to the name of the legislation implemented on 1 December 2010 covering these crimes This led to some confusion as to whether this group was being included in crimes or offences To emphasise that these are crimes as they always have been this group has been renamed Sexual crimes The corresponding name changes have been made to the other crime categories in this group Includes e Rape e Attempted rape Includes e Contact sexual assault 13 15 year old or adult 16 e Sexually coercive conduct 13 15 year old or adult 16 e Sexual crimes against children under 13 years e Lewd and libidinous practices Includes e Crimes relating to prostitution e Soliciting services of person engaged in 38 Other Group 3 Crimes of dishonesty Housebreaking Theft by opening a lockfast place OLP Theft from a motor vehicle by OLP Theft of motor vehicle prostitution Brothel keeping Immoral traffic Procuration Includes Other sexually coercive conduct Other sexual crimes involving 13 15 year old children Taking distribution possession etc of indecent photos of children Incest Unnatural crimes Public indecency Sexual exposure Other sexual crimes Also referred to as Dishonesty Includes Theft by Housebreaking domestic prope
13. contained in the bulletin It is designed to be a useful reference guide with explanatory notes regarding the updates issues and classifications which are crucial to the production and presentation of crime statistics in Scotland The preparation of a Scottish Crime and Justice Survey and Recorded Crime in Scotland analytical paper The purpose of this analytical paper is to bring together the two main sources of crime statistics in Scotland The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey SCRS and Recorded Crime in Scotland The paper emphasises the need for two sources of crime statistics highlighting the relative strengths and weaknesses of each source that make them more appropriate in different contexts and for different purposes Differences between the two data sources create challenges in making direct comparisons particularly when assessing trends over time Therefore comparisons can only be made using the broadly comparable subset of crimes The report contains analysis that compares police recorded crime statistics to the results of the SCJS This analysis is useful in assessing the scale of the difference between the volume of crime that is recorded by the police and the level of crime that is estimated to be experienced by the adult population in Scottish households The inclusion of a section on the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin The section brings together police recorded crime and the Scot
14. in question Following publication the data were not revised unless discrepancies or errors were discovered The data were extracted from live operational systems within the legacy police forces which were continually being updated with incidents that are logged as crimes or offences and subsequently investigated Some incidents initially recorded as crimes or offences may on further investigation be found not to be crimes or offences described as being no crimed Additionally during the investigation of crimes and offences they may be reclassified for example from Serious assault to Culpable homicide common law if the victim of the assault died as a result of their injuries It is known that due to such natural variation that recorded crime data would change over time If another snapshot of the data was taken at a later point in time it would be different from the data that had previously been submitted to the Scottish Government However to revise data each year would have placed an extra burden on legacy police forces and in light of this the IT system in place within the Scottish Government was not flexible enough to allow updating of information since the system was set up with the policy of not back revising data in mind However a new IT system was implemented in the Scottish Government in 2011 which allows much more flexible management of recorded crime data In addition the new ScOMIS performance management system brings t
15. of a comprehensive and independent audit of crime data The aim of HMICS s Crime Audit 2014 was to test the accuracy of incident and crime recording in Scotland This follows on from and builds upon the audit conducted between July and August 2013 The results were intended to e Provide the public and key stakeholders with greater information on which to base their assessment of the trustworthiness and validity of crime statistics e Highlight to Police Scotland areas of good practice or areas for improvement and or increased internal audit and scrutiny e Assess the extent to which recommendations made in our 2013 review of incident and crime recording have been taken into account and e Address the need for a comprehensive independent audit of crime data as highlighted by the UK Statistics Authority The full terms of reference of the crime audit can be accessed here http www hmics org publications hmics crime audit 2014 terms reference The result of HMICS s Crime Audit 2014 conducted between September and October 2014 on incidents recorded between 1 April 2014 and 30 June 2014 was published in November 2014 The key findings of the audit were e The quality of most incident and crime recording decisions by Police Scotland is good 92 of incidents were closed correctly and 94 of crime was counted and classified correctly There is however scope for improvement particularly in relation to areas such as sexual offences and non
16. of policing The SPA Board was appointed in October 2012 It will hold the Chief Constable to account for the policing of Scotland and the Chief Executive of the SPA to account for its role as employer of staff and the delivery of services to the board and policing The SPA Board has delegated responsibility to the Scottish Police Authority Chief Executive to provide support and advice to the board on strategic decisions regarding finance human resource and any other area required From 1 April 2013 the Chief Executive will also oversee the management of Forensic Services in Scotland to support Police Scotland to carry out operational policing Further information on the Scottish Police Authority can be found on their website http www spa police uk 2 5 Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland HMICS provides independent scrutiny of both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority HMICS has wide ranging powers to look into the state effectiveness and efficiency of both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority including Forensic Services Their approach is to support Police Scotland and the SPA to deliver services that are high quality continually improving effective and responsive to local needs HMICS also have a statutory duty to ensure that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland and the SPA meet their obligations in terms of best value and contin
17. older male child 13 15 16026 Intercourse with older female child 13 15 16027 Penetrative sexual activity with older male child 13 15 48 16028 Penetrative sexual activity with older female child 13 15 16029 Sexual activity with older male child 13 15 16030 Sexual activity with older female child 13 15 16031 Cause older male child 13 15 to participate in sexual activity 16032 Cause older female child 13 15 to participate in sexual activity 16033 Older male child 13 15 engaging in sexual conduct with another older child 16034 Older female child 13 15 engaging in sexual conduct with another older child 16035 Causing an older child 13 15 to be present look at sexual activity 16036 Communicate indecently older child 13 15 16037 Sexual exposure older child 13 15 16038 Voyeurism older child 13 15 17003 Sexual exposure 17004 Voyeurism 18018 Taking distribution possession etc of indecent photos of children 18019 Sexual abuse of trust of person under 18 18020 Sexual abuse of trust of person of mentally disordered person 18023 Administering a substance for sexual purposes On 6 October 2010 the Criminal Justice and Licensing Scotland Act 2010 was implemented This introduced a statutory provision to combat Threatening or abusive behaviour section 38 Unlike the common law offence of Breach of the peace where it is necessary to show a public element to the conduct there is no requ
18. police force area having a high level of no crimes may be indicative of that legacy force area having a local recording process that captures all reports as crimes at the first point of contact and before any further investigation has taken place to consider the full facts Equally a legacy police force area with a low level of no crimes might be indicative of a recording practice by 24 which reports are retained as incidents only until a fuller investigation has taken place In 2014 Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland HMICS in their audit of crime and incident recording examined Police Scotland no crime processes to determine if decisions to no crime were made correctly In HMICS s audit which looked at almost 1 000 no crime decisions they found that nationally the no crime compliance rate was 94 The range for correct no crime decisions was between 83 and 100 across all divisions of Police Scotland 25 8 Crime Registrars structure and meetings The crime registrars within Police Scotland ensure that crimes in Scotland are recorded ethically They also undertake internal audits of the crimes which are recorded 8 1 Structure A new crime registrar structure was put in place following the establishment of Police Scotland on 1 April 2013 The overall responsibility for compliance with the SCRS lies with the Chief Constable of Police Scotland Crime recording sits wi
19. police issuing of a Penalty Notice for Disorder or a Fixed Penalty Notice Along with non notifiable offences dealt with by the police such as speeding these include many offences that may be dealt with by other agencies for example prosecutions by TV Licensing or by the DVLA for vehicle registration offences 23 7 No criming The police record some crimes which are subsequently no crimed where it is determined by the police that no crime actually took place The Scottish Crime Recording Standard SCRS sets out circumstances under which a crime report may be no crimed A crime once recorded should be classified as a No Crime if one of the following criteria is satisfied e Where following the report of an incident a crime is recorded and additional credible information is available which determines that no crime has been committed e Thecrime was committed outside the jurisdiction of Police Scotland e Thecrime was committed in another Police Scotland Division and has been transferred to that Division for recording e A procedural error has been made for a non victim based crime offence e g Section 1 warning not given for Road Traffic Offence mistake made on an Anti Social Behaviour Fixed Penalty Notice ASBFPN or a Crown Office Fixed Penalty Notice COFPN The term No Crimes relate to crimes already recorded and are therefore distinct from incident reports that are not crimed It should be note
20. s as required Where there is no specific intended victim and where an officer warns an offender to stop the unlawful behaviour and the offender heeds the warning and no further action is taken no crime report is required 6 2 6 Visual recording systems e g CCTV It is not the intention of the SCRS to record as crimes all incidents that could be construed as crimes when viewed remotely Incident reports from visual recording systems should be treated as reports by a third party coming to the attention of the police For example where as a result of events police officers attend the scene of a disturbance but all parties have left this should be recorded as an incident only rather than as a recorded crime 6 2 7 Anonymous reports Anonymous reports of crime must be supported by corroborative evidence prior to the creation of a crime record Where a victim s details are withheld from the police the circumstances reported will normally be recorded as an incident only until such times as victim details are made known 6 3 Crime recording flowchart The decisions processes that Police Scotland undertake from when an incident is first reported until its final classification be that remain as an incident be classified as acrime or an offence or be no crimed is shown in Figure 6 1 20 Figure 6 1 Crime recording flowchart Create
21. the totals for these offences based on data from the Recorded Crime in Scotland data returns 68 For all crimes and offences in which a firearm was alleged to have been involved the date location type of firearm and how the firearm was used in the crime or offence are collected For crimes and offences in which fatal or non fatal injury is caused details of the age and gender of the victims in crimes and offences are collected Details of the age and gender of accused are collected for offences that are cleared up We therefore recommend that users interested in statistics on crimes and offences in which a firearm was alleged to have been involved or where a firearm was stolen should refer directly to the Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms bulletin series The Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms bulletin series contains data on the number of homicides where the main method of killing was with a firearm This corresponds to data that are also included in the Homicide in Scotland bulletin series The Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms bulletins can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubFirearms 17 5 Drug Seizures Recorded by the Police in Scotland The Drug Seizures Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin presents statistics for drug seizures made by the police in Scotlandl included are the aggregated number of drug seizures and the quantity of
22. with intent to endanger life commit crime etc Abduction Ill treatment of mental patients Cruel and unnatural treatment of an adult Drugging Chemical weapon offences Female genital mutilation Includes Rape crime prior to 1 December 2010 Rape of male 16 Rape of female 16 Rape of older male child 13 15 years Rape of older female child 13 15 years Rape of young male child under 13 Rape of young female child under 13 Attempted rape crime prior to 1 December 2010 Attempted rape male 16 Attempted rape female 16 76 Group 3 Crimes of dishonesty Housebreaking Group 4 Fire raising vandalism etc Fire raising vandalism etc Group 5 Other crimes Drug crimes e Attempted rape older male child 13 15 e Attempted rape older female child 13 15 e Attempted rape young male child under 13 e Attempted rape young female child under 13 e llegal homosexual acts e Bestiality e Assault to commit unnatural crimes Includes e Theft by Housebreaking domestic property dwelling and non dwelling e Housebreaking with intent to steal domestic property dwelling and non dwelling e Attempted Housebreaking with intent to enter and steal domestic property dwelling and non dwelling Includes e Fire raising excluding muirburn Muirburn Reckless conduct with firearms Flying aircraft to the danger of life or property Endangering rail passengers Reckless driving at comm
23. 00n00nnenneeneeneenennnennernernennrene 73 19 1 Users of the recorded crime statistics 2 0 0 0 ccceceeeeeeceeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeees 73 19 2 Uses of Recorded Crime StatisticS 0 ccccccececeecceececeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneees 73 20 CONSULTATIONS 2 2 2 cee eee cecceccceccecececcecceeecuccueeceecuecaueceecaeeseecuecaeeseecaeeseeseeeaeeeeeens 80 20 1 Survey of users of crime and justice statistics website ee 81 20 2 Crime statistics user event 2 2 0 ccccecceeccecceecceececeeeeceeceeceueceeeaeeceeceeeaeeceeeaes 81 21 Potential future CONSIDEratiIONS ccc cecececcecccecceccecececcecaeeceeceecceeceeeaeeeeens 84 21 1 Individual level data cccceccceccecceececcececucceccuceceecuecaeececceeeaeeceeeaeeaeeeaees 84 21 2 Frequency of 1eleases s aewenerienenanienenieanaieniianenaieeds 84 1 Introduction This user guide provides detailed information on the Recorded Crime in Scotland statistical bulletin series published by the Scottish Government and the data that are contained in the bulletin It is designed to be a useful reference guide with explanatory notes regarding the updates issues and classifications which are crucial to the production and presentation of crime statistics in Scotland The Scottish Government publishes figures on the levels and trends of crime in Scotland primarily based on two sets of crime statistics the police recorded crime data and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey
24. Police in Scotland bulletins can be accessed here http Awww scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubRacistIncidents 17 4 Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms The Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms bulletin presents statistics on those crimes and offences recorded by the police in which a firearm was alleged to have been involved or where a firearm was stolen The Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin contains the number of crimes and offences in which a firearm was alleged to have been involved or where a firearm was stolen in the relevant top 35 categories but they are not separately identifiable as having involved a firearm The data in Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms bulletin are collected via a separate data collection from the police and are collected for each incident where a crime or offence has allegedly involved a firearm The exception to this is the crime code 55000 Firearms miscellaneous offences These offences mainly relate to the possession handling and distribution of firearms and ammunition Prior to 2005 06 data returns for the Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms bulletin did include the crime code 55000 Firearms miscellaneous offences but in discussion with the police it became apparent that not all such incidents were being included It was therefore decided to remove such incidents from the main tables and to provide a separate table which presents
25. The full audit report can be accessed here http www hmics org publications hmics crime audit 2014 9 3 Technical report on the comparability of recorded crime data With the establishment of Police Scotland a new IT system Scottish Operational and Management Information System ScOMIS was developed This collates crime reports from across the variety of systems used by the eight legacy police forces into one central information management system and supplies the Scottish Government with recorded crime data Previously the Scottish Government collected recorded crime data from the eight legacy police forces who in turn had extracted the data from their own systems There were two aims to the report e To investigate the comparability of SCOMIS data and legacy force data and e Check the quality of recorded crime data supplied by the police The Technical report on the comparability of recorded crime data report should be read alongside this user guide and the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2013 14 bulletin as these provide context and background information on recorded crime data To enable a full check of whether data extracted from ScOMIS were comparable with legacy force data SCOMIS was populated with data for 2008 09 onwards These data were then compared with the data previously submitted by the legacy forces To be as thorough as possible this was done at local authority level for all 470 crime codes over the five year period betw
26. User Guide to Recorded Crime Statistics in Scotland Justice Analytical Service November 2014 CONTENTS Page Mes MNT OUI CT ODD EA AE AAA AA AAAA AAAA 4 2 Police ETON reee e eea EEE ERA EE R Eae AE EEA Sa AEE oS AEEA SEER EEA SEEEN 6 2 1 The origins of police reform s ccescqccsevcezeves sea woesvceteasceataeeb cet eee eee 6 2 2 Consultation on police reform sssssssssssssesssrrrnrrrtssertrrnnnnrtssttnnnnnnnnnneeennnn 6 2 9 WP NICS Scotlandin teste ni e nina ian lata naa sna nina 7 2 4 Scottish Police Authority xe Ne oe ee ae et Ne Nh Ce EA 7 2 5 Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland ccceeeeees 7 3 Roles of OFGAMIS AMONG base ceiceoncted dans ceis deen ied pias deeded be oideid hen tcbraetnnidsandtetdaeies 9 Sl Police Scotland Aauanaladalanaladalanaiasalanaiasialanalasacn 9 3 2 Scottish Police Authority eeeeeeoeeeeennnneeeeeeretrnrrrrnseerrttrnnnnrnneeerttennnnnneeene 10 3 3 Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland ceeee 10 3 4 Scottish Government sneen ii ut R 10 4 Statistics from Police Scotland the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish GOVEMMENE Aeran a a a aa a E iaie ia 12 Aci Police Scotland nnanananna a a a E A 12 4 2 Scottish Police Authority 2 2 2 2 cceccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeceeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 12 Aro Scottish OVEN ents tctence cocseacecnesercccnescnceccescacncescncicoenerteenentecicnmeertianenins 13 5 UK Statistics
27. added or removed these decisions are always taken in conjunction with the agreement of Crime Registrars in Police Scotland The changes are shown in the years in which they were implemented 11 1 1 2004 05 The introduction of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard SCRS in 2004 05 has helped maintain a consistent approach to recording crime For further information on the SCRS please see the section on the Scottish Crime Recording Standard As anticipated this increased the numbers of minor crimes recorded by the police such as minor crimes of vandalism and minor thefts However it was not anticipated that the SCRS would have a notable impact on the figures for more serious crimes such as Serious assault Sexual assault Robbery or Housebreaking Unfortunately it was not possible to estimate the exact impact of the new recording standard on the recorded crime figures because around the time that the new standard was implemented police also introduced centralised call centres which encouraged the reporting of incidents to the police 11 1 2 2005 06 The top 35 category Petty assault was renamed Minor assault The following new crime codes were introduced as a result of new legislation and there was a requirement to identify these crimes and offences separately Group 1 Non sexual crimes of violence e 11007 Female genital mutilation Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Scotland Act 2005 44 Group 2 Sexual crimes
28. aken when comparing this crime code with previous years The following new crime code was introduced as a result of new legislation and there was a requirement to identify this offence separately Group 6 Miscellaneous offences e 85037 Failure to comply with a Property Factor Enforcement Order PFEO Property Factors Scotland Act 2011 54 12 Clear up rates The definition of cleared up is noted below This definition came into force with effect from 1 April 1996 A crime or offence is regarded as cleared up where there exists a sufficiency of evidence under Scots law to justify consideration of criminal proceedings notwithstanding that a report is not submitted to the procurator fiscal because either i by standing agreement with the procurator fiscal the police warn the accused due to the minor nature of the offence or ii reporting is inappropriate due to the non age of the accused death of the accused or other similar circumstances For some types of crime or offence the case is cleared up immediately because the offender is caught in the act e g motoring offences In Scots law the confession of an accused person to a crime would not in general be sufficient to allow a prosecution to be taken as corroborative evidence is required Thus a case cannot be regarded as cleared up on the basis of a confession alone In some cases there is sufficient evidence but a prosecution cannot be brought for example b
29. alyticalpaper 63 16 Accessibility of recorded crime data The data included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin series can be accessed in a number of different ways and formats This is in addition to the data that are included in the bulletins themselves Clearly only a limited selection of tables can be included in each bulletin However further analysis of recorded crime statistics can be supplied on request This includes available information relating to time periods other than those covered in the current bulletin In certain cases a fee is charged For details of what can be provided please e mail JusticeAnalysts scotland gsi gov uk 16 1 Web tables Following the establishment of Police Scotland data will no longer be presented at a legacy police force level The headline data will still be presented at a Scotland level but the Scottish Government will be presenting more data at a local authority level The Recorded Crime in Scotland web tables can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice Datasets RecCrime 16 2 Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics Recorded crime data are available from the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics SNS website Local authority and Scotland data are available on the SNS website with data available from 1996 97 onwards Data are given for overall total crime groups the previous top 32 categories as well as other specific groupings of interest such as c
30. and conduct three types of internal audit that test the compliance with the SCRS e Audit Type 1 Crime Related Incidents and Associated Recorded Crime conducted biannually by crime registrars e Audit Type 2 Recording of Specific Crime Types Divisional Crime Audit conducted quarterly by crime managers e Audit Type 3 Recorded Crime Reclassified to No Crime conducted biannually by crime registrars In order to allow each of the 14 divisions a reasonable period of time to ensure that records are complete and compliant with the SCRS Police Scotland internal audits are generally undertaken three months after the date of the incident crime Any records incomplete at the time of audit are audited based on the information available to the Crime Registrars or Crime Managers at the time e Audit Type 1 Crime related incidents and associated recorded crime This audit type contains two separate tests Compliance in each of the two tests is achieved by a result of 95 or above Test 1 Crime related incidents That incidents initially indicating a crime or apparent criminal activity and finally classed as a non crime contain a satisfactory explanation to eliminate any inference of criminality and fully justify the incident being a non crime That for each incident it is clearly indicated on the incident report whether it was a crime or non crime Where an incident is confirmed as a crime the corresponding crime record
31. ata collected from Police Scotland Together these statistics are used to inform National Outcome 9 we live our lives safe from crime disorder and danger as well as The Strategy for Justice in Scotland These statistics are also used by a wide range of stakeholders to monitor trends for policy research and development and for research purposes In July 2014 the UK Statistics Authority published an assessment of Statistics of Recorded Crime in Scotland It concluded that statistics based on police recorded crime data having been assessed against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics that they could not a present confer National Statistics status on these statistics Scottish Government statistical bulletins based on police recorded crime data can be accessed from the publications area of the Crime and Justice Statistics section of the Scottish Government website at http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice Publications The User Guide to Recorded Crime Statistics in Scotland is part of a suite of documents alongside the Framework of Assurance and the Recorded Crime Comparability of Police Scotland and Legacy Force Data report intended to support and inform users about police recorded crime statistics in Scotland For further information about Recorded Crime in Scotland please email JusticeAnalysts scotland gsi gov uk Crime statistics for England and Wales and Northern Ireland are collected an
32. be more straightforward Previously data was returned by the eight legacy forces on Excel templates and some manual manipulation had to be applied to get the data ready for upload into the system In addition to the improvements in sending actual quarters SCOMIS allows the data to be extracted and submitted in a format that can be uploaded into our SAS systems removing the likelihood of human error when preparing data The Scottish Government has published a statement on administrative sources for police recorded crime data The statement can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice AdminSourcesPolice 28 9 1 Police Scotland audits Within Police Scotland internal audits are undertaken by the three Crime Registrars as well as crime managers Each of the fourteen Police Scotland divisions has a Crime Manager The Crime Managers are responsible for local crime recording practices in their respective divisions The Crime Registrars undertake biannual audits of a proportion of crimes and incidents including a no crime audit Quarterly inter divisional crime audits take place overseen by Crime Registrars where divisional Crime Managers independently review a selection of crime reports from a different division within Police Scotland The purpose of these inter divisional audits is to raise the standard of crime recording promoting standardisation across Scotland 9 1 1 Audit types Police Scotl
33. can be traced 29 Test 2 Recorded crime The correct application of the SCRS on recorded crimes in respect of the Scottish Government Counting Rules and the correct classification of crimes In terms of compliance with the SCRS each individual crime over or under recorded or incorrectly classified is counted as having failed the audit e Audit Type 2 Recording of specific crime types divisional crime audit To ensure that a number of different areas of crime recording are covered by Audit Type 2 samples are taken from a number of different crime types be it a crime and offence group or crime records marked as a particular type of crime or offence such as those involving domestic abuse This type of audit tests the correct application of the SCRS on recorded crimes and offences in respect of the Scottish Government Counting Rules and the correct classification of crimes In terms of compliance with the SCRS each individual crime over or under recorded or incorrectly classified was counted as having failed the audit Compliance in this audit is achieved by a result of 95 or above e Audit Type 3 Crime records reclassified to no crime The SCRS states Once recorded a crime will remain recorded unless there is credible evidence to disprove that a crime had occurred This audit type tests the correct application of this statement in respect of recorded crimes which have been reclassified to no crime following polic
34. ces data collections include recording errors as well as specific data errors on a small number of crime codes The majority of errors identified in this section will be corrected with the publication of the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2013 14 bulletin However the overall comparability of 6 Miscellaneous offences has been affected by these errors e Changes in reporting practices There were a large number queries raised with Police Scotland regarding Group 7 Motor vehicle offences They related to both the comparability and the quality of the data It was determined that with the establishment of Police Scotland there has been a standardisation of the reporting practices for what data should and should not be included in data returns to the Scottish Government These included offences recorded as a result of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme offences arising from the DVLA issuing tickets offences resulting from the Vehicle Defect Rectification Scheme and offences recorded as a result of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency With the standardisation in reporting practices the overall comparability of Group 7 Motor vehicle offences has been affected This is true for comparing the data post and pre reform as well as when comparing the data pre reform In terms of comparability the Scottish Government are satisfied that crime data Groups 1 to 5 are comparable pre and post reform This means there will be no break in the time
35. corded by the Police in Scotland Firearm Certificates Statistics Scotland and Police Officer Quarterly Strength Statistics Scotland In addition the Scottish Government publishes bulletins that cover the criminal justice systems once crimes and offences have been recorded by the police They are Criminal Proceedings in Scotland Prison Statistics Scotland and Reconviction Rates in Scotland 17 1 Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland The Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin presents statistics on domestic abuse based on details of incidents A statistical collection on domestic abuse previously referred to as domestic violence was recommended in the Report of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland Hitting Home A Report on the Police Response to Domestic Violence 1997 The definition used in statistics of domestic abuse recorded by the police is Any form of physical sexual or mental and emotional abuse that might amount to criminal conduct and which takes place within the context of a relationship The relationship will be between partners married cohabiting civil partnership or otherwise or ex partners The abuse can be committed in the home or elsewhere The data in Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin are collected via a separate data collection from the police and are for each recorded incident of domestic abuse The return is a simple count of the numbe
36. cotland Instead they are complementary together providing a more comprehensive representation of crime in Scotland 61 Table 15 1 Recorded crime and SCJS compared Recorded Crime Scottish Crime and Justice Survey Where do Administrative police records Face to face interviews with residents the data from a nationally representative sample of come from the household population Basis for Crimes recorded by the police in Trained coders determine whether inclusion Scotland governed by the experiences of victimisation in the last 12 Scottish Crime Recording months constitute a crime and assign an Standard and Counting Rules offence code Frequency Collected by financial year Continuous survey with results published Statistics released in an annual biennially publication e Covers the full range of Good measure of trends since crimes and offences 2008 09 Provides data at a local Captures information about crimes level and can be used that are not reported to the police for performance including sensitive issues such as monitoring domestic abuse or drug abuse A good measure of rarer Provides information on multiple more serious crimes that and repeat victimisation up to 5 are well reported incidents in a series Good measure of long Analyses risk for different term trends demographic groups and victim offender relationships Provides attitudinal data e g fear of crime or attitudes towards the criminal j
37. cotland The SCRS was produced by the Scottish Crime Registrar s Group and agreed by Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland ACPOS following research that identified the need to develop a more victim orientated approach to crime recording This followed on from the National Crime Recording Standard NCRS which was introduced in England and Wales in April 2002 Any reference to crime in the SCRS and in this section also refers to offences under statute Crimes and offences are grouped under recognised categories for statistical proposes as defined by the Scottish Government For further information on the classification of crimes and offences please see the section on Classification of Crimes and Offences The aim of the SCRS is e to provide a more victim orientated approach and ensures uniformity in crime recording practices throughout Scotland The following principles apply All reports of incidents whether crime related or not will result in the creation of an incident report which is auditable Following initial registration an incident will be recorded as a crime in all cases if the circumstances amount to a crime defined by Scots Law or an offence under statute determined by Police Scotland based on their knowledge of the law and counting rules and there is no credible evidence to the contrary Once recorded a crime will remain recorded unless there is credible evidence to disprove that a crime had
38. crime related incidents Correct closure means either that the incident was closed as non crime related and contained sufficient information to dispel any inference of criminality or the incident indicated a crime had occurred and a crime record was traced e A few divisions performed very well achieving high compliance rates in all or most areas The performance of these divisions demonstrates that compliance with the Scottish Crime Recording Standard and Counting Rules can be achieved when crime recording is well managed locally and appropriately scrutinised Conversely a few divisions performed poorly e There is scope for improvement in the recording of sexual crimes 89 of sexual offence related incidents were closed correctly and 90 were recorded within a reasonable timescale The referral of incidents to specialist investigation units makes it more likely that recording will be delayed 32 Violent incidents reported to the police are closed correctly in 92 of cases 94 of resulting crimes are counted and classified correctly There remain challenges in the classification of violent crime particularly around serious assaults robberies and attempted murders Scrutiny of housebreaking by crime management units resulted in good recording practice 94 of housebreaking related incidents were closed correctly and 95 of resulting crimes were counted and classified correctly The recording of hate crime was excellent and ac
39. cs e present and discuss with users analysis comparing the police recorded crime statistics and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey e discuss the extent to which statistics based on police recorded crime data and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey meets users needs and what can be done to improve that if necessary e investigate users need for more detailed record level crime data or updates or changes to the format in which crime statistics are published There were over 50 attendees representing expert and non expert users of crime statistics from a wide variety of public sector voluntary sector and academic organisations A more detailed report on the findings from this event can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice scotstatcrime CrimeStatsEvent UserViews The timetable and presentations from the event can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice scotstatcrime CrimeStatsEvent 20 2 1 User views on crime statistics over all Users expressed a high level of satisfaction with the police recorded crime statistics and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey being presented separately with users including non expert users reporting no difficulty in understanding and interpreting the different headline results from the two sources Indeed some users commented 81 that bringing the sources together into a single report would be mo
40. d published separately The latest police recorded crime data for England and Wales and Northern Ireland can be accessed here e England and Wales http Awww ons gov uk ons rel crime stats crime statistics index html e Northern Ireland http Awww psni police uk index updates updates statistics htm 2 Police reform The Police and Fire Reform Scotland Act 2012 changed the policing landscape in Scotland replacing the previous eight police forces the Scottish Police Services Authority and the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency Police Scotland is now responsible for operational policing in Scotland and will be held to account by the Scottish Police Authority 2 1 The origins of police reform Examination of the case for reforming our police services began with the publication of the report of the Independent Review of Policing by Her Majesty s Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland Paddy Tomkins in 2009 under the auspices of the Scottish Policing Board In 2010 the police service began examining options for maintaining an effective frontline service with reduced funding as a result of the worsening prospects for public expenditure The Sustainable Policing Team comprised of police officers and staff supported by Scottish Government officials prepared a report on the options 2 2 Consultation on police reform The first police reform consultation A Consultation on the Future of Policing in Scotland was
41. d crime data should be used for more local level crime data or where it is important to consider crimes against victims who are under 16 years of age those living in group residences institutions or those without a fixed address crimes without a single identifiable victim or crimes against commercial or public sector bodies Recorded crime statistics are largely dependent on the public reporting crimes to the police and as a result provides a good measure of crimes that are well reported to the police A key strength of the SCJS however is its ability to capture crimes that are not reported to and therefore not recorded by the police The SCJS can also inform work that needs information on the characteristics of victims and offenders such as their age and gender and where information is required on the views and attitudes on policing and the wider criminal justice system Differences between the two data sources create challenges in making direct comparisons particularly when assessing trends in crime over time For example due to changes in the survey methodology consistent data is currently only available for the four survey sweeps since 2008 09 so recorded crime data should be used when considering crime over a longer time period Further information on the comparability of the two data sources can be accessed here http Awww scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice crime and justice survey publications SCJSPRCan
42. d on that of England and Wales and the Police Service for Northern Ireland PSNI has the same notifiable offence list for recorded crime as used in England and Wales In addition the PSNI has adopted the NCRS and Home Office Counting Rules for recorded crime that apply in England and Wales Thus there are similar comparability considerations between recorded crime statistics for Northern Ireland and Scotland Crime statistics for Northern Ireland are collected and published separately The latest police recorded crime data for Northern Ireland can be accessed here http www psni police uk index updates updates _statistics htm 18 3 Internationally Due to differences in legislation there are also comparability issues when comparing the statistics for the recorded number of crimes and offences given in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin internationally Data users are always advised to consult any relevant and accompanying metadata and to proceed with caution when formulating any arguments or drawing any conclusions from international recorded crime comparisons 72 19 Users and uses of recorded crime statistics The Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin is the primary source of detailed and reliable information on recorded crimes and offences in Scotland The recorded crime data are a high profile justice issue which attracts considerable media and political interest 19 1 Users of the recorded crime statistics Recorded Crime stati
43. d or downgraded the rationale must be noted on the crime record to justify the decision made thereby providing an audit trail The Crime Registrar will determine whether a crime should be recorded and or the appropriate crime classification where there is uncertainty 6 2 Circumstances where a crime may not be recorded 6 2 1 Where no crime has occurred If an apparent crime related incident proves not to involve criminality the incident record disposal will clearly depict the circumstances dispelling criminality If following 18 the creation of a crime report subsequent investigation proves that no crime occurred the crime report will be marked accordingly A full description of steps taken and the reason behind the change in status will be detailed in the crime report Exceptions to this are e Where duplicate or multiple crime or incident records have been raised cross referencing to the master record is necessary e When investigation has established that the crime occurred outside Police Scotland s jurisdiction 6 2 2 Recording on other systems including conditional offers self generated reports etc The exceptions to the Principles are where standing agreement with the Procurator Fiscal or the Children s Reporter exists precluding the requirement to raise a crime record for example Conditional Offers or Fixed Penalty Notices in relation to moving Road Traffic Offences where these are not always recorded on a crime r
44. d that No Crime is a final disposal and should not be applied as an interim measure to any recorded crime The No Crime rule can be applied to crimes recorded at any time during the financial year and may include offences recorded in previous financial years The Crime Registrar is the final arbiter for all No Crimes The reason for the No Crime must be explained in detail in the crime incident report along with the details of the requesting and authorising officer For further information please see Section E of the SCRS Crime reports that are no crimed are removed from police crime data and thus from the police recorded crime statistics The majority of no crime decisions are made by the police before data are submitted to the Scottish Government These include situations where having been recorded additional credible information becomes available that determines that no crime was committed or the crime was committed outside the jurisdiction of Police Scotland No crimes relate to crimes already recorded and are therefore distinct from incident reports that are not recorded as crimes in the first place Great care is needed in interpreting no crime data The proportion of no crimes does not in itself infer high or low compliance with the overall requirements of the SCRS Levels of no criming are particularly susceptible to local recording practice and the legacy IT systems in use A legacy
45. data collection system from legacy police forces would have had to have been altered to allow the back revision of previous quarters This would have placed additional burden on legacy police forces Police Scotland plans to continue to submit quarterly data throughout the year however it is their intention not to submit cumulative quarters and to revise previous quarters as the year progresses This means that at the end of the financial year period Police Scotland will provide snapshot data which shows a breakdown into actual quarters Police reform and the introduction of a new management information system means that the Scottish Government can give further consideration to the frequency of publication of the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin The Scottish Government will seek to consult users of the data in due course on the frequency of publication 84
46. discharged on a daily basis by Crime Registrars At the time of this review Police Scotland was proposing to implement new governance arrangements for crime recording and to rationalise the number of Crime Registrars in line with the new structures of Police Scotland HMICS were pleased to hear that most of the officers and staff they spoke to were encouraged to record crime accurately and ethically However while the majority of those HMICS spoke to said they had heard strong messages from the Chief Constable and others about the importance of accurate and ethical crime recording such messages were not always reaching frontline personnel Almost everyone HMICS spoke to during their review said improved incident and crime recording systems would facilitate compliance with crime recording standards HMICS welcomed Police Scotland s plans to address deficiencies in existing systems by rolling out a national incident recording system and a national crime recording system by 2015 Awareness of SCRS was good although some officers and staff did not feel confident that they were correctly applying rules regarding the classification of crimes HMICS found that a more strategic approach to initial and refresher training would promote consistency and accuracy in crime recording decisions Scrutiny and audit of crime recording decisions varied slightly across Scotland While HMICS found evidence that scrutiny and audit were mostly proportionate and ris
47. ds only data from Police Scotland are included in the main findings and tables included in the bulletin Prior to police reform the bulletin only contained data from the eight legacy police forces in the main findings and tables Returns are submitted by the police at local authority level which allows a national total to be obtained This was the case both prior to and post police reform Additional information on the data included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin and further information on how and what the data can used for can be found in the Recorded Crime in Scotland Data Sources and Suitability document The document can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice DataSource RecordedCrimeSandS The Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin series can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubRecordedCrime 5 UK Statistics Authority assessment The UK Statistics Authority UKSA has recently undertaken an assessment of Recorded Crime in Scotland statistics The UKSA published its assessment report on Recorded Crime in Scotland on 31 July 2014 The report states that UKSA cannot at present confer National Statistics status on these statistics whilst also recognising that the UKSA have been impressed with features of the institutional framework in Scotland and noting that Police Scotland is surrounded by a strong framework of inspection and re
48. e enquiry into the reported circumstances In terms of compliance with SCRS each individual crime reclassified incorrectly is counted as having failed the audit Compliance in this audit is achieved by a result of 95 or above 9 2 Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland audits HMICS conducts national reviews of incident and crime recording with one of the aims being to assess compliance with crime recording standards HMICS conducted a national review of incident and crime recording between July and August 2013 shortly after the creation of Police Scotland The timing of this review allowed HMICS the opportunity to consider emerging arrangements for the management of crime recording within a national police service and to assess compliance with crime recording standards since 1 April 2013 HMICS reviewed documents relating to crime recording and spoke with a range of people involved in the recording process HMICS also examined 1 501 incident records relating to domestic abuse sexual offences assault and robbery This review of incident and crime recording was published in December 2013 30 The key findings of the review were Of the 1 501 records examined by HMICS 93 complied with the SCRS below the accepted standard of 95 Compliance rates varied according to crime type ranging from 99 for domestic abuse to 89 for sexual offences Responsibility for compliance with the SCRS lies with the Chief Constable and is
49. e 18014 Grooming of children for purposes of sexual crimes Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2005 Group 5 Other crimes e 35005 Obstruct or hinder other emergency worker in pursuance of duty Emergency Workers Scotland Act 2005 e 39016 Breach of parenting order Antisocial Behaviour etc Scotland Act 2004 Group 6 Miscellaneous offences e 47006 Minor assault of an emergency worker Emergency Workers Scotland Act 2005 e 47007 Antisocial behaviour offences Antisocial Behaviour etc Scotland Act 2004 e 50011 Offences relating to persons disqualified from working with children Protection of Children Scotland Act 2003 e 50012 Prevent a person feeding a baby milk in a public place The Breastfeeding etc Scotland Act 2005 e 50013 Offences against selling spray paint to children Antisocial Behaviour etc Scotland Act 2004 e 85034 Antisocial behaviour landlord offences Antisocial Behaviour etc Scotland Act 2004 11 1 3 2006 07 The following new crime codes were introduced as a result of new legislation and there was a requirement to identify these crimes separately Group 2 Sexual crimes e 18015 Procuration of sexual services from child under 18 Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2005 e 18016 Procuration of child under 18 for pornography Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Off
50. each type of drug seized The statistics in this bulletin series relate to drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 The Act divides drugs into three categories class A B and C according to their harmfulness A full list of drugs in each category is given in Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as amended by Orders in Council In addition to the number of drug related crimes recorded by the police in Scotland that are included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin series the Drug Seizures Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin also includes information on the number of drug seizures and the quantity of each type of drug seized Within Group 5 there is a top 35 category for Drug crimes The Drug crimes category is further broken down in Table A7 of the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin series We therefore recommend that users interested in statistics on the number of drug seizures and the quantity of each type of drug seized should refer directly to the Drug Seizures Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin series The Drug Seizures Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletins can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice DrugSeizures 17 6 Firearm Certificate Statistics Scotland The Firearm Certificate Statistics Scotland bulletin presents statistics on the number of firearm and shotgun certificates on issue under the Firearms Act 1968 as amended covering cert
51. eal the incidence of all domestic abuse committed since not all incidents are reported to the police There is an additional source for information on domestic abuse in Scotland The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey SCJS contains a self completion section on domestic abuse From the 2010 11 survey onwards the SCJS has an enhanced self completion section on domestic abuse This section was completely reworked and questions about sexual assault rape were added in consultation with stakeholders The definition of abuse is wider than used in 2006 survey and includes physical emotional psychological sexual and financial abuse by partners This definition of abuse is closer to the UN definition of violence against women but is not a gender based definition The SCJS focuses on abuse carried out by partners Partners are defined in the questionnaire as any boyfriend girlfriend husband wife or civil partner Specifically the SCJS gathers information about abuse carried out against adults aged 16 and over by their partners It includes abuse undertaken by and against both men and women The terms partner abuse or domestic abuse are not introduced to respondents at the start of the questionnaire Respondents are simply asked to identify which if any of a range of abusive behaviours they have experienced since they were 16 The behaviours presented to respondents include psychological abuse such as emotional or financial abuse and
52. ecause the accused has left the country In such cases the offender is said to have been traced and the crime is regarded as cleared up The other terms in the definition describe the various actions that must be taken by the police against offenders Certain motor vehicle offences are not always recorded in cases where the police are unable to clear up the offence for example speeding offences where the driver is untraceable Clear up rates for motor vehicle offences in these circumstances are artificial Thus clear up rates for the Group 7 Motor Vehicle Offences are not included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin Crimes and offences are included against the year in which they are recorded by the police This is not necessarily the year in which the crime or offence took place the year in which the accused is brought to trial for the crime or offence or the year in which the case is finally disposed of by the courts Crimes or offences recorded by the police as cleared up in one financial year year y may have been committed and therefore recorded in a previous year i e year y 1 This means that the number of crimes or offences cleared up are being expressed as a percentage of a different set of crimes or offences This means that clear up rates in excess of 100 can arise in a given year Clear up rates are calculated as follows number of crimes cleared up in year y _ x 100 total number of crimes recorded in yeary 1 As the nu
53. ecording system although are recorded on an auditable system for statistical purposes All incidents coming to the attention of the police will be registered by the creation of a report which is auditable This practice will ensure Police Scotland has all available information to hand when determining possible crimes and will allow an audit trail to be created for future audit and inspection purposes Where a report is recorded as a crime initially and does not require immediate police response e g self generated reports it is not always necessary for an incident record to be created However where the report is not initially recorded as a crime an auditable incident record should be registered whether on the Incident System or some other accessible and auditable means Self generated reports are reports generated by Police Scotland themselves and are identified through Police Scotland undertaking proactive policing measures but can also be brought to the attention of Police Scotland by members of the public In such circumstances the complainer is likely to be recorded as Procurator Fiscal 6 2 3 Unable to confirm details of initial report Where a complainer reports an incident which initially indicates a crime may have occurred and where reasonable enquiry has been made to contact the complainer in order to obtain the details of the alleged crime but without success no crime report need be created However the incident must be e
54. ection Scotland Act 2007 e 39020 Breach of violent offender order Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 Group 6 Miscellaneous offences e 60008 Refusing to quit licensed premises Licensing Scotland Act 2005 e 85036 Offences under the Charities and Trustees Investment Scotland Act 2005 Charities and Trustees Investment Scotland Act 2005 46 Following the introduction of the crime code 60008 Refusing to quit licensed premises there was a decrease in the number of offences recorded under the crime code 60006 Disorderly on licensed premises in 2009 10 Some offences that would have previously recorded as 60006 Disorderly on licensed premises were now recorded as 60008 Refusing to quit licensed premises It is not possible to quantify the number of offences that were recorded differently following the introduction of the crime code 60008 Refusing to quit licensed premises As a result caution should therefore be taken when comparing the crime code 60006 Disorderly on licensed premises with previous years 11 1 7 2010 11 The Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2009 came into force on 1 December 2010 The Act replaces a number of common law crimes including Rape Clandestine injury to women and Sodomy with new statutory sexual crimes The Act provides a statutory description of consent which is defined as free agreement and provides a non exhaustive list of factual circumstances during which consent will be deemed to
55. eeeeees 64 17 Other statistical bulletins using police data cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeeeeaeees 65 17 1 Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland eeeeeeeee 65 17 2 Homicide in SCOUANC sistictsscinteicccntciathinislathintaistcisteigttintaigtintaietaietaiatahs 66 17 3 Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland cceeeeeee 67 17 4 Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms ccceeeeeeee 68 17 5 Drug Seizures Recorded by the Police in Scotland cceeeeeeeeeees 69 17 6 Firearm Certificate Statistics SCOtANL cc ccccccceeeeeseeesseeeeesueeesueeeees 69 17 7 Police Officer Quarterly Strength Statistics Scotland ceeee 70 17 8 Criminal Proceedings in Scotland i0 cece ee ees Ae ee eens 70 17 9 Prison Statistics SCOtAN cccccccccccecceccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteess 70 17 10 Reconviction Rates in Scotland ccccccccccccecccccceceeeeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 71 18 Comparability across the UK vc 00 ccccces aeeceee cece aeicaeeeetdens tice even Gene 72 18 1 E gland and Walesom pi a a a a aaa aaa at car eae aaien 72 18 2 Northern Ireland cccccccecccecceeececceceeeececceeccueceecaeeceecaeeseecueeaueceecteeaeeeaees 72 18 3 Internationally eeeeooneennnneeeeeeeeeeennnntreeoerttrnnnrrreeereretnnnnrseeerrtnnnnnneneeee 72 19 Users and uses of recorded crime statistics 0
56. een 2008 09 and 2012 13 Any differences were then investigated by Police Scotland and rectified if appropriate The majority of differences between the data sources were due to the fact that a snapshot of historical data was being compared to a more up to date snapshot of data There were two reasons why the recorded crime data may have changed in the time period between two snapshots e Changes made as a result of on going police investigation This includes the reclassification of crimes and offences and no criming i e where it is determined by the police that no crime actually took place It is not possible to know the extent to which differences between ScOMIS and previous data are 34 due to these types of changes this is explored further in the Extent of changes section of this user guide e Changes to crime codes A number of changes have been made to crime codes over the period 2008 09 to 2012 13 as well as changes to how particular incidents are recorded by the police These changes do not affect the accuracy or comparability of recorded crime data previously published by the Scottish Government A number of specific issues with the data were identified e Issues relating to SCOMIS Two issues were discovered with the way ScOMIS was extracting data from the legacy force systems Both of these issues have since been rectified by Police Scotland e Issues relating to legacy force data The issues identified with legacy for
57. egic indicators are aligned with the larger suite of 90 Key Operational Performance Indicators already being used by Police Scotland to inform their operational response to policing issues Although data are not yet available for all 20 indicators in the SPA framework work is on going to fill these gaps and reflect on the usefulness of the indicators already in use Further information on the SPA Performance Framework and the Strategic Plan can be accessed here http www spa police uk performancepages spaperformanceframework 4 2 1 Reporting against the key performance indicators Police Scotland provides data against the key performance indicators on a quarterly basis to the SPA which is analysed by the SPA In December 2013 Police Scotland 12 started reporting against the quarterly data currently available for each of the indicators within its Performance Report to the SPA Board Further information on the full public board meetings of the SPA including the papers can be accessed here http Avww spa police uk meetings events board meetings 4 3 Scottish Government The Scottish Government publishes police recorded crime statistics on an annual basis in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin series The statistical return from which most of the figures in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin are taken is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the police in Scotland From 2013 14 onwar
58. ences Scotland Act 2005 Group 5 Other crimes e 39017 Breach of risk of sexual harm order SHO or interim risk of SHO Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2005 e 39018 Breach of football banning order Police Public Order and Criminal Justice Scotland Act 2006 11 1 4 2007 08 Within the Other miscellaneous offences category in Group 6 Miscellaneous offences the crime code 48000 False calls to emergency services and bomb hoax was removed and replaced with two separate crime codes 48001 False or hoax calls to emergency services and 48002 Bomb hoaxes This change will not affect comparability over time The following new crime codes were introduced as a result of new legislation and there was a requirement to identify these crimes and offences separately 45 Group 2 Sexual crimes e 18017 Soliciting services of person engaged in prostitution Prostitution Public Places Scotland Act 2007 Group 6 Miscellaneous offences e 85035 Offences relating to working with vulnerable adults Adult Support and Protection Scotland Act 2007 11 1 5 2008 09 The following new crime codes were introduced as a result of new legislation and there was a requirement to identify these crimes separately Group 1 Non sexual crimes of violence e 3004 Causing death by careless driving Road Safety Act 2006 e 3005 Illegal driver involved in fatal accident Road Safety Act
59. erformanceframework 3 3 Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland Although Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland HMICS is not involved in the publication and production of crime statistics HMICS does conduct regular audits of crime recording to ensure that crimes are recorded by the police in accordance with the Scottish Crime Recording Standard and the Scottish Government Counting Rules 3 4 Scottish Government The Scottish Government collects data on police recorded crime from Police Scotland derived from administrative systems which it then publishes as official statistics The primary aim of official statistics in Scotland is to provide an accurate up to date comprehensive and meaningful picture of the volume of crime with which the police in Scotland are faced to support the formulation and monitoring of social policies by government and others 10 The Scottish Government supports delivery of policies that are focused on the key national outcomes of e We live our lives safe from crime disorder and danger e We have strong resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others e Our public services are high quality continually improving efficient amp responsive to people s needs The evidence shapes informs and measures progress towards the vision set out in The Strategy for Justice in Scotland e A justice system that cont
60. erson engaged in prostitution Brothel keeping Immoral traffic and Procuration e The top 35 category Other sexual crimes includes Other sexually coercive conduct Other sexual crimes involving 13 15 year old children Taking distribution possession etc of indecent photos of children Incest Unnatural crimes Public indecency and Sexual exposure e The top 35 category Minor assault was renamed Common assault In turn crime codes 47001 Minor assault and 47006 Minor assault of an emergency worker were similarly renamed 47001 Common assault and 47006 Common assault of an emergency worker respectively e The top 35 category Breach of the peace was changed to Breach of the peace etc The category has been renamed as it now includes the following offences in addition to Breach of the peace Threatening or abusive behaviour Offence of stalking Offensive behaviour at football under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Scotland Act 2012 and Threatening communications Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act 2012 Threatening or abusive behaviour and the Offence of stalking were included in the Other miscellaneous offences category in 2010 11 As these offences would have previously been classified as crime code 47002 Breach of the peace any comparisons over time for the offence of Breach of the peace should be made using the top 35 category Breach of the peace etc e The top 35 category
61. etary announced that Police Scotland would become operational on 1 April 2013 More detail on the legislation behind the reform and consultations undertaken can be accessed here http Awww scotland gov uk T opics Justice policies police fire rescue police scotland LegislationPoliceServiceofScotland 2 3 Police Scotland Police Scotland was formally established on 1 April 2013 and is responsible for policing across Scotland Police Scotland is led by a Chief Constable and comprises police officers police staff and special constables The Chief Constable is supported by a command team of four Deputy Chief Constables seven Assistant Chief Constables and three Directors Within Police Scotland there are 14 local policing divisions each headed by a Local Police Commander Alongside the local policing divisions there are a number of national specialist divisions Police Scotland s priorities are outlined in their Annual Police Plan Police Scotland took over responsibility for policing in Scotland from the eight former police forces the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland Further information on Police Scotland can be found on their website http www scotland police uk 2 4 Scottish Police Authority The Scottish Police Authority SPA was established under the Police and Fire Reform Scotland Act 2012 to maintain policing promote policing principles and continuous improvement
62. gulation including a National Crime Registrar the Scottish Police Authority and HMICS Each of the UKSA assessment reports point to improvements statistics producers can make The Scottish Government are actioning these requirements The full assessment report can be accessed here http www statisticsauthority gov uk assessment assessment assessment reports assessment report 288 statistics on recorded crime in scotland pdf 5 1 Scottish Government plans The Scottish Government is undertaking a range of actions which have the overarching aim of improving the information being provided to users to aid their understanding and interpretation of the statistics including the strengths and limitations of the statistics and how they can use the statistics The Scottish Government will provide more details on the quality assurance processes as well as the quality of the data and will take account of the results of audits by HMICS to demonstrate how it assures itself of the quality of recorded crime statistics It will also provide to users an assessment of any risk and potential sources of error associated with the use of the underlying administrative data source The Scottish Government has undertaken the following e Improved commentary and presentation of information in the statistical bulletin Improving commentary on the statistics by providing more context where possible to allow users to better understand the data More chart
63. he ability to extract information in a much more efficient way for the whole of Scotland With this reduction in burden on data suppliers and with a much more flexible in house IT system comes the opportunity to revisit our revisions policy and consider whether data should be routinely revised in future Any discrepancies or errors that are discovered in the recorded crime data will always be corrected After the publication of the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2013 14 statistical bulletin this is a matter that the Scottish Government will reconsider and users will be consulted accordingly 14 1 Extent of changes In order to estimate the extent of change that can happen within police recorded crime data over the space of a year a comparison could be made between e a snapshot of data for a particular financial year taken just after the end of the financial year say 2013 14 data taken in April 2014 with e a snapshot of data for the same financial year taken a year later in the example given above a snapshot of data for 2013 14 taken in April 2015 58 Undertaking such an exercise would allow a high level estimate of the volume of changes made as a result of police investigation over the course of a year in the live police data However as over the course of a year an individual crime could be altered a number of times i e reclassified no crimed and or crimed as police investigations progress such an exercise would not allow any cha
64. he group s remit The Group s page can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Social Welfare scotstat mdagmeetings 19 2 1 6 Monthly safer communities and justice brief The Monthly Safer Communities and Justice Brief contains an up to date summary of the most important statistics across the justice portfolio These Monthly briefs can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice Justicebrief 19 2 2 Third Sector Users within the Third Sector use recorded crime statistics to e understand progress changes and trends over time to support development of policies and initiatives to improve outcomes e influence others by using statistics to support arguments that there are issues that need addressing e g statistics are used to provide evidence that domestic abuse against men is an issue e contextualise other information and e plan 19 2 3 Academia Users within academia use recorded crime statistics to e understand and explore changes in society 78 e contextualise qualitative work and deepen and justify arguments and e predict impact of changes in policies 19 2 4 Private Sector Users within the private sector use recorded crime statistics to e assess the risk of areas before employs are sent to work in these areas i e utility companies and e enhance their products by including crime information i e maps 79 20 Consultations Prior t
65. hieved the highest compliance rate of 97 in the audit However a recurring issue with regards to the classification of some hate crime should be addressed Only 87 of the non crime related incidents examined by HMICS were closed correctly Scrutiny of incidents reported to the police is a weakness in most divisions Non crime related incidents are those which were potentially crime related when created but which were eventually closed as being non crime related There remains scope for improvement regarding timely crime recording decisions particularly in relation to sexual crimes In general however HMICS felt that timeliness had improved since their previous audit HMICS found that 97 of crimes were recorded within 72 hours of being reported to the police No criming practice is generally good but could be improved in some divisions No criming practice is best in those divisions where one person or a small group of people are tasked with authorising all no criming decisions allowing them to develop expertise and ensuring a consistent approach No crimes are incidents that were originally thought to have been a crime but were later classified as not being a crime following additional investigation The quality of no crime decisions in relation to rape is very good These decisions are subject to significant scrutiny at divisional and national levels giving us confidence they are made correctly and consistently across Scotland Previ
66. hy than are currently available to fully enable the uses to which the statistics are put e g pinpoint crime hotspots and consequently target resources more efficiently Users would like the statistics to be available at data zone level but intermediate geography or other small area e g multi member ward are considered acceptable whereas production of recorded crime statistics at legacy police force and local authority levels are not meeting the majority of user needs There was little or no requirement for recorded crime statistics to be made available in fully Open Data formats even CSV although a small number of users thought that this might be useful in the future Most users reported high levels of satisfaction with the Excel tables currently provided but that it would be helpful for greater use to be made of Excel s functionality to add notes to cells and charts to give context and explain anomalies in the data caused by significant or one off events Several users requested that the data be made available on Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics and that this be done swiftly following publication of the bulletins Another very common requirement of users was for analysis of the statistics by gender age and socioeconomic status and to a slightly lesser extent being able to link the crime data with court data to follow the crime through the criminal justice system would be useful Non expert users requested more informati
67. ice Scotland should review the new crime registrar structure and governance arrangements for crime recording one year after their implementation The review should include consideration of whether sufficient resources are available for auditing incident and crime records and whether the dual roles held by some crime managers raise a possible conflict of interest with ethical crime recording in contravention of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard The crime registrar role is under regular scrutiny and a number of improvement actions have already been progressed 26 Figure 8 1 Crime registrars structure Chief Constable Deputy Chief Constable Designate Director of Corporate Services Risk and Business Assurance National Crime Registrar North Crime Registrar East Crime Registrar West Crime Registrar 4 Divisions 4 Divisions 6 Divisions Crime Manager and Crime Manager and Crime Manager and team in each division team in each division team in each division 8 2 Meetings The Scottish Crime Registrars Group meets quarterly This groups was established to support consistency in implementing the SCRS and associated Counting Rules The group discusses matters arising from the application of the SCRS and is also responsible for maintaining and updating the Counting Rules Meetings were previously attended only by Police Scotland national and regional crime registrars and representatives of the COPFS and HMICS as well as re
68. ide in Scotland bulletin are collected via a separate data collection from the police and are collected on an individual case basis This means that characteristics of victims and accused such as age and gender as well as the circumstances of the homicide are collected and then included in the bulletin Additional details relating to the method motive and relationship between the victim and the accused are also shown As the data in the Homicide in Scotland bulletin are collected separately from the data included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin the data are extracted from police recoding systems at different time points which may result in reclassification of crimes such as attempted murder to murder which are not then reflected in this bulletin In the Homicide in Scotland bulletin homicide cases are included against the year in which it is recorded by the police This is not necessarily the year in which the crime took place the year in which the accused is brought to trial for the crime or the year in which the case is finally disposed of by the courts This may lead to minor differences between the figures reported in the Homicide in Scotland bulletin and the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin as well as those published by the police We therefore recommend that users interested in Homicide statistics should refer directly to the Homicide in Scotland bulletin series The Homicide in Scotland bulletin series contains data on the n
69. ificates issued by the police in Scotland The bulletin also provides information on the number of registered firearm dealers visitor permits and European Firearms Passes EFPs issued 69 Up until the publication of the data as at the 31 December 2013 the Firearm Certificate Statistics Scotland bulletin was published on a calendar year basis After this publication the bulletin moved to publish data on a financial year basis The Firearm Certificate Statistics Scotland bulletins can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubFirearmCertificates 17 7 Police Officer Quarterly Strength Statistics Scotland The Scottish Government also collects information on the number of full time equivalent police officers from Police Scotland on a quarterly basis Data are as at the end of the respective quarter Q1 31 March Q2 30 June Q3 30 September and Q4 31 December The data are then published in the quarterly Police Officer Quarterly Strength Statistics Scotland web release Data on the number of full time equivalent police officers in Scotland is available from Q3 in 2003 The Police Officer Quarterly Strength Statistics Scotland web releases can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PublicationPoliceStrength 17 8 Criminal Proceedings in Scotland The Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletin presents statistics on criminal proceedings c
70. irement in this legislation to demonstrate the offending behaviour was in a public place Section 39 of this Act introduced the specific offence of stalking Formerly this offence would have been recorded under the common law offence of Breach of the peace Crimes of Stalking and of Threatening and abusive behaviour were included in the Other miscellaneous offences category in Group 6 Miscellaneous offences whereas they would have previously have been included in the Breach of the peace category in Group 6 Miscellaneous offences The following new crime codes were introduced in Group 6 Miscellaneous offences as a result of implementation of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Scotland Act 2010 e 47008 Threatening or abusive behaviour e 47009 Offence of stalking As these two offences would have previously been classified as the crime code 47002 Breach of the peace caution should therefore be taken when comparing this crime code with previous years Within the Vandalism etc category in Group 4 Fire raising vandalism etc the crime code 33013 Reckless damage was removed as crimes classified under it should be classified under two other existing crime codes 33011 Culpable and reckless conduct not with firearms or 33012 Vandalism Caution should therefore be taken when comparing these two crime codes with previous years 49 Within Group 3 Crimes of dishonesty there was a reclassification of thefts from ATM
71. ith intent to rape young male child under 13 15006 Assault with intent to rape young female child under 13 16001 Sexual assault by penetration of male 16 16002 Sexual assault by penetration of female 16 16003 Sexual assault by penetration of male 13 15 years 16004 Sexual assault by penetration of female 13 15 years 16005 Sexual assault of male 16 16006 Sexual assault of female 16 16007 Sexual assault of older male child 13 15 years 16008 Sexual assault of older female child 13 15 years 16009 Sexual coercion of male 16 16010 Sexual coercion of female 16 16011 Sexual coercion of older male child 13 15 years 16012 Sexual coercion of older female child 13 15 years 16013 Coercing a person into being present looking at sexual activity 16014 Communicating indecently 16015 Assault by penetration of young male child under 13 16016 Assault by penetration of young female child under 13 16017 Sexual assault of young male child under 13 16018 Sexual assault of young female child under 13 16019 Cause young male child under 13 to participate in sexual activity 16020 Cause young female child under 13 to participate in sexual activity 16021 Cause young child to be present look at sexual activity under 13 16022 Communicating indecently with young child under 13 16023 Sexual exposure to a young child under 13 16024 Voyeurism young child under 13 16025 Intercourse with
72. ity across the UK 18 1 England and Wales Recorded crime statistics for England and Wales are not directly comparable with those in Scotland The recorded crime statistics for Scotland are collected on the basis of the SCRS which was introduced in 2004 In England and Wales the recording of crime statistics are based upon the National Crime Recording Standard NCRS which was introduced in 2002 and Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime As explained in the section on the National Crime Recording Standard and Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime although the main principles of the SCRS and the NCRS are the same there are differences between the respective Counting Rules and therefore differences in crime recording practices In addition differences in legislation and common law have also to be taken into account when comparing the crime statistics for England and Wales and Scotland A guide to the comparability of recorded crime data between England and Wales and Scotland has been published by the Office for National Statistics ONS and can be accessed here http www ons qov uk ons quide method compendiums compendium of uk statistics social indicators data cataloque index html Crime Statistics for England and Wales are published quarterly on the ONS website and can be accessed here http www ons gov uk ons rel crime stats crime statistics index html 18 2 Northern Ireland The legal system in Northern Ireland is base
73. k based HMICS felt that there could be more emphasis on a right first time approach Police Scotland should continue to use the results of scrutiny and audit to drive improvement at all levels Adherence to the SCRS across Scotland is generally good and HMICS were impressed by the knowledge and commitment of many officers and staff HMICS identified several areas in which Police Scotland could improve its approach to crime recording and maintain the progress that has already been made since the introduction of the SCRS in 2004 The full report of the national review of incident and crime recording can be can be accessed here http www hmics org publications nm inspectorate constabulary scotland review incident and crime recording december 2013 In autumn 2014 HMICS conducted another crime recording audit seeking to provide greater information on which to base the assessment of the validity of crime statistics in Scotland The aim of this audit was to assess the state efficiency and effectiveness of crime recording by Police Scotland and the extent to which recording practice complies with the Scottish Crime Recording Standard and Scottish Government Counting Rules 31 The completion of this crime audit is welcomed following increased scrutiny of crime statistics in Scotland In addition in its assessment of police recorded crime statistics published by the Scottish Government the UK Statistics Authority highlighted the importance
74. kenness and other disorderly conduct The name change was to reflect better the type of offences that are 52 included in this category In addition the crime code 72008 Consumption of alcohol in designated places byelaws prohibited was moved to this top 35 category from the Other miscellaneous offences category This was done as the Drunkenness and other disorderly conduct category more accurately reflects the nature of the offences recorded under the crime code 72008 Consumption of alcohol in designated places byelaws prohibited This change was backdated so that all offences recorded as crime code 72008 Consumption of alcohol in designated places byelaws prohibited are now included in the Drunkenness and other disorderly conduct category Therefore comparisons over time for these two 35 categories have not been affected Three new categories were added to the then top 32 categories making it the top 35 categories The three new categories and the rationale behind their inclusion are e The category Urinating etc was added This category contains one crime code 47003 Urinating etc Previously this crime code would have been included in the Other miscellaneous offences category This was done so that the large number of offences of Urinating etc could be separately identified and not just classified in the Other miscellaneous offences category Other categories like the Other miscellaneous offences category are intended for grouping
75. l 2011 crimes of Handling an offensive weapon and Drug crimes in prisons were reclassified from the Other miscellaneous offences category in Group 6 Miscellaneous offences to the categories of Handling offensive weapons and Drugs in Group 5 Other crimes respectively This means that prior to 2011 12 these prison related crimes would have been classified as offences Therefore caution should be used when making any comparison over time for the crime code 85001 Prisons Scotland Act 1989 not elsewhere classified where the crimes of Handling an offensive weapon and Drug crimes in prisons would have previously been classified For 2011 12 it was not possible to disaggregate either the crimes of Handling an offensive weapon or Drug crimes that took place in prison from the crimes that did not take place in prisons There were a number of changes to the crime groups and top 35 categories e Group 2 was renamed Sexual offences in line with the naming convention of the Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2009 from Crimes of indecency e The top 35 category Serious assault etc was split into two new categories Homicide and Attempted murder and serious assault e The top 35 category Prostitution was replaced by a new category called Offences associated with prostitution This includes the crime in the old Prostitution category as well as the following crimes that were previously included in the Other sexual crimes category Soliciting services of p
76. launched on 10 February 2011 The first consultation sought views on how to protect and improve the police service including ways to create better partnership working with other organisations and on future structural options for the police service An analysis report of this consultation was published on 21 June 2011 After a series of consultation events and substantive engagement with key stakeholders on the case for police reform in the summer of 2011 on 8 September 2011 the Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill announced in Parliament the Scottish Government s intention to legislate for a single police service Along with this announcement a consultation paper Keeping Scotland Safe and Strong A Consultation on Reforming Police and Fire and Rescue Services in Scotland was published setting out the Scottish Government s proposals for how best to establish the single police and fire and rescue services and inviting comments to help shape the final proposals and legislation This consultation received 145 written consultation responses and a consultation analysis report was published on 10 February 2012 The Police and Fire Reform Scotland Bill 2011 was formally introduced in Parliament on 12 January 2012 by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and became an Act in August 2012 The Bill and its details of its passage through Parliament are available on the Scottish Parliament website On 21 February 2012 the Justice Secr
77. lease register your interests by subscribing to ScotStat 80 20 1 Survey of users of crime and justice statistics website In late 2010 a survey was conducted of the Crime and Justice Statistics section of the Scottish Government website The purpose of this survey was to obtain the views of users on various aspects of the website including the content and format and any ways in which they felt it could be improved A report summarising the findings from this survey can be accessed http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice scotstatcrime jaswebsurvey 20 2 Crime statistics user event On Monday 6 October 2014 the Scottish Government s Justice Analytical Services Division held a Crime statistics user event in Edinburgh The aim of this event was to bring together producers and users of Scottish crime statistics to discuss the strengths weaknesses uses and potential uses of the statistics contained in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin series and the Crime and Justice Survey and more specifically e gather more detailed information about the uses users and user s views of the statistics contained in both the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin series and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey e inform users about on going work with Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority and explain the roles and responsibilities of the organisations involved in the production and publication of crime statisti
78. mber of crimes cleared up in a year may include crimes recorded in a previous year this is not a perfect measure of crimes cleared up particularly since this method can result in clear up rates of over 100 The best method would be to take the number of crimes recorded and the subset of those which have been cleared up by the police However due to the aggregate way in which the data is obtained it is not possible to do this at present 55 Police Scotland are working on the development of a single crime recording system which when available may open up the potential for more individual level crime data to be available which may make it possible to obtain a more accurate count of crimes cleared up which have been recorded in that same period This is something we will investigate with Police Scotland and consult users on in due course 56 13 Crimes and offences per population rates Within the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin the rates of crimes and offences per 10 000 population are given This allows comparisons to be made between areas that take account of the underlying populations For example meaningful comparison can then be made between areas such as Glasgow City where the 2013 mid year population was 596 550 and the Orkney Islands where the 2013 mid year population was 21 570 Crimes and offences per 10 000 population rates are calculated as follows total number of recorded crimes x 10 000 mid year population estimate 1
79. more related to how focussed on the crime statistics the user is in other words users whose work is focussed heavily on crime statistics tend to be more expert than those whose use of crime statistics is only a small part of their job For further information on this event please see the Crime statistics user event section 19 2 1 Central and Local Government Users within the Scottish Government and local authorities use recorded crime statistics to inform elected members about e progress to aid strategic assessment of crimes and priorities e which communities need focussed attention and e which crimes need focussed attention The Scottish Government and local Authorities also use recorded crime statistics to inform colleagues stakeholders and members of the public about 73 e progress e g using the crime statistics as progress indicators and or contextualise other information and sources of evidence about delivery of outcomes e changes and trends over time to support development of policies and initiatives to improve outcomes and e interactions with other policy developments and initiatives For example with health issues particularly regarding drugs and alcohol and when assessing the likely impact of bringing more people into an area e g during an application to build affordable housing Recorded Crime statistics are also used to predict the impact of changes in policies as well as benchmarking and monitoring
80. n the oddities such as local initiatives and operations Once this stage of quality assurance is completed the data is then used to produce a set of data tables which allow a sense check of figures to take place At this point if any anomalies are identified in previously published data steps are taken to resolve the discrepancy and correct figures accordingly Once the police are happy that the final resulting data are an accurate reflection of police activity within each financial year period they the confirm this in writing via email The data are then considered ready for publication With the establishment of Police Scotland and their new performance management system Scottish Operational and Management Information System ScOMIS there is now the ability to extract information in a much more efficient way This has allowed Police Scotland to submit the recorded crime data in actual quarters and not on a cumulative quarterly basis This only allows the potential for Police Scotland to submit revised quarters throughout the financial year In addition to the rigorous quality assurance work that is already undertaken JAS can now quality assure the individual quarters This has the advantage that any revisions made to the data after initial submission to the Scottish Government can be applied to the relevant quarter and not applied cumulatively to the data as a whole This should allow the discovery of anomalies within individual quarters to
81. ndorsed with a record of the attempts made Where a complainer reports an incident which initially indicates a crime may have occurred and where sufficient detail has been recorded on the incident a crime report must be raised even though the police have been unable to contact the complainer to obtain further information 6 2 4 No victim witness etc traced Where there are grounds to suspect that a crime may have taken place but no victim or person reasonably assumed to be acting on behalf of the victim can immediately 19 be found or identified the matter should be recorded as an incident until such time as confirmation of a crime can be ascertained Where a crime record is not being raised the auditable incident record must be fully updated to explain the circumstances 6 2 5 Public order incident In the case of a public order incident where on the arrival of the police there is no continuing disorder and no specific intended victim the incident will not be routinely recorded as a crime Reasonable enquiries should be undertaken to identify specific victims and secure any supporting evidence that would enable further police action in terms of arrest or summons Where enquiries fail to identify any victim or produce supporting evidence the incident will remain recorded as an incident only Where police arrive at a scene and witness disorder they will deal with the matter appropriately and where crimes are apparent record the crime
82. ng to enter licensed premises Drunk or drinking in unlicensed premises e Disorderly on licensed premises e Drunk and attempting to enter a sports ground e Refusing to quit licensed premises 41 Urinating etc Other Group 7 Motor vehicle offences Dangerous and careless driving Driving under the influence Speeding Unlawful use of vehicle Vehicle defect offences Mobile phone offences e Consumption of alcohol in designated places byelaws prohibited Urinating defecating Includes Racially aggravated harassment Racially aggravated conduct False Hoax calls Offences involving children Offences involving animals plants Offences against local legislation Offences against liquor licensing laws Labour laws Naval military and air force laws Offences against environmental legislation e Consumer protection acts Includes e Dangerous driving offences e Driving carelessly Includes e Driving or in charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs e Blood alcohol content above limit e Failing to provide breath blood or urine specimens Includes e Speeding in restricted areas e Other speeding offences Includes e Driving while disqualified Driving without a licence Driving without insurance Driving without a test certificate Vehicle tax and registration and identification offences Includes e Construction and use regulations other than lighting e Lighting offences
83. nges to be attributed to a particular reason i e the amount of no criming for a particular crime code In order to do this a full manual audit of changes made to all crimes and incidents that have been no crimed would be required It is not currently possible to extract this level of detail from the police data systems automatically It would not be feasible to carry out a full manual audit of all crimes and incidents each year When HMICS publish no criming figures these are estimates based on a sample covering a specified time period Pre police reform subsequent snapshots of police data for a particular financial year were not collected by the Scottish Government as this would have placed an extra and inappropriate burden on legacy police forces However since the establishment of Police Scotland and the introduction of ScOMIS the collation of recorded crime data at a national level has largely been automated It is the Scottish Government s intention to engage with Police Scotland to obtain a second snapshot of the 2013 14 data in April 2015 at the same time the 2014 15 data are extracted to compare with the previously collected and reported snapshot for the 2013 14 data that was collected in April 2014 It will then be possible to see the extent of changes made as a result of police investigations over the course of a year This information will be used to help inform the users when the revisions policy for recorded crime data is consulted
84. nquiries 19 2 1 1 Scotland Performs Scotland Performs measures and reports on progress of government in Scotland in creating a more successful country with opportunities for all to flourish through increasing sustainable economic growth Progress towards the Purpose is tracked by seven Purpose Targets and it is supported by 16 National Outcomes and 50 National Indicators covering key areas of health justice environment economy and education Further information on Scotland Performs can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk About Performance scotPerforms The National Outcomes can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk About Performance scotPerforms outcome The statistics on crimes and offences are used to inform National Outcome 9 we live our lives safe from crime disorder and danger National Outcome 9 can be 74 accessed here http www scotland gov uk About Performance scotPerforms outcome crime 19 2 1 2 The Strategy for Justice in Scotland The Strategy for Justice in Scotland sets out in one place the Scottish Government s collective approach to delivering an effective and efficient justice system for Scotland At its heart are the Justice Outcomes demonstrating how Scotland s justice system is contributing to Scotland s National Outcomes and making a tangible difference to the lives of the people of Scotland Progress in delivering these outcomes is overseen by the Justice Board The Justice Board consist
85. o police reform the Recorded Crime in Scotland statistical bulletin presented statistics on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland at a legacy police force level Following the establishment of Police Scotland it is no longer meaningful to present recorded crime statistics for the eight legacy police forces As a result the Scottish Government will need to make some changes to how it publishes the information and the format it is provided it in To help decide the future format Scottish Government invited users to provide feedback by means of a consultation on how they would prefer to receive data in relation to Police Scotland The consultation was open from 4 April 2014 until the 9 May 2014 Two main themes emerged from the responses to the consultation e the publication of data more regularly and e that data should be published at a lower geographic level The establishment of Police Scotland allows the Scottish Government the opportunity to revisit the data collection method specifically the timings and frequency of data collections Discussions regarding this are on going and the Scottish Government will inform users via ScotStat when any developments have been made on this As the Scottish Government currently receive recorded crime data from the police as a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the police at local authority level it is not currently possible to publish recorded c
86. occurred For further information on this please see the section on No Criming The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with the SCRS lies with the Chief Constable of Police Scotland discharged by rime managers on a daily basis and overseen by the Crime Registrars through their audit programme All crime records are subject to the rules set out in the SCRS which are under constant review Updates to the Counting Rules will normally be effective from 1 April each year All crimes must be recorded as soon as reasonably practicable and within a period of 72 hours from the time the incident is first notified In most cases this will result in details of the reported crime being submitted to the crime system prior to termination of duty If no crime is recorded within 72 hours the reason for the delay must be fully explained and justified within the incident log In exceptional circumstances a maximum of 7 days is permitted to take into account situations outwith Police Scotland control The SCRS is published by Police Scotland in the Our Performance section of their website under Related Documents and can be accessed here http www scotland police uk about us our performance The crimes and offences data included in the following statistical bulletins published by the Scottish Government are recorded according to the SCRS Recorded Crime in Scotland Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland Homicide in Scotland Racis
87. omparability of recorded crime data 00 34 10 Classification of crimes and OffENCES ccccccccccceccceeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeess 37 10 1 Silne E AEA EAE OENE OAOE EEEE EERTE 37 10 2 Offen eS iiaa a e a E Ee E aai aie Ei Sae ai aae Ei aie Sai aae Eaa 41 11 Structure of crime and offence classificationS ccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 44 11 1 Changes to crime and offence classifications eceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 44 12 MGV RIE UD WATS S cae ies e cit idl id cl cca igi cca ea 55 13 Crimes and offences per population rates cccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaees 57 14 Revisions policy sess ctsr ts cc teks cce ries oes neh ete iss shah ae cs as soe eee eh a eet 58 14 1 Extent of changes es ised secretes sits mance cerantted saeceiecanienatecnd aseriecudenanncesesesiee 58 15 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 0 eeeeeeeeeccceceeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneaaees 60 15 1 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey eee eeceeeeeee eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 60 15 2 Comparing police recorded crime and the Scottish Crime and Justice SUVO Nich a nnn Sind fa te A tn atk ain Sia Ni oi ies beats ih Rha hia teh ata ta at 61 16 Accessibility of recorded crime data eccecececcceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesenaeees 64 16 1 Web tables a iesene ieie ais E ENa EE AEE NEEN ENE EA 64 16 2 Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics cccccccccccecccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
88. on about definitions of crimes versus offences 82 20 2 3 User views on user engagement Those users who were members of ScotStat expressed satisfaction in being kept informed when statistics are published and consulted but a large number of users at the event were unaware of ScotStat and expressed the need for such a device Users did ask that ScotStat be used to inform users when the dates of publications are set rather than just on the day of release to help in planning Users recognised that this information is available from the forthcoming publications webpage but there is currently no way to be notified when things have been updated changed In terms of future engagement those present mostly agreed that occasional events were good because it is useful to hear other users views but not too often because it is time resource intensive Many users said they felt they were engaged with quite effectively already and the preferred route was through email and web surveys The idea to establish a user group was welcomed which could discuss the details of more complex issues and arrive at considered options which could then considered by wider engagement with more people via email or web survey 83 21 Potential future considerations 21 1 Individual level data Currently the Scottish Government collects aggregated numbers of crimes and offences from Police Scotland meaning no information about victims perpetrators or the indi
89. on law Culpable neglect of duty Endangering ship by breach of duty obtain ship by misrepresentation Computer Misuse Act 1990 Culpable and reckless conduct not with firearms Vandalism Malicious mischief Includes e llegal importation of drugs e Production manufacture or cultivation of drugs e Supply possession with intent to supply etc of drugs e Possession of drugs 77 e Drugs money laundering offences e Drugs other offences Group 6 Miscellaneous offences Common assault Includes e Common assault e Common assault on an emergency worker The data used in the SIMD crime domain are collected via a separate data collection from the standard recorded crime data collection The data collected for the SIMD crime domain are also subject to a rigorous data quality assurance exercise before they are used in the index SIMD 2012 was published on 18 December 2012 The SIMD website which contains further background information on SIMD can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics SIMD 19 2 1 5 Measuring Deprivation Advisory Group The Measuring Deprivation Advisory Group MDAG is made up of a combination of data suppliers and users of the SIMD The group provides advice on issues such as the needs of users development priorities methodological options quality of outputs and dissemination and guidance on the use of outputs The MDAG webpage provides meeting papers and more information on t
90. on on SCRS in 2007 a recommendation was made that the Counting Rules should be reviewed As part of this review following consultation with Crime Registrars the Scottish Government advised that as of 1 April 2008 the Counting Rules should be more in line with the SCRS i e more victim focused In line with the more victim focused approach to crime recording from 1 April 2008 changes were made to a number of areas in relation to the counting rules and this should be borne in mind when comparing reviewing crime records and statistics prior to this date For further information on the Counting rules and how they should be applied please see Section L of the SCRS 6 5 National Crime Recording Standard and Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime In England and Wales the recording of crime statistics are based up on the National Crime Recording Standard NCRS and Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime HOCR The NCRS was introduced nationally in England and Wales on 1 April 2002 with the aim of promoting greater consistency between police forces in the recording of crime and to take a more victim oriented approach to crime recording Like its counterpart the SCRS the NCRS aims to give consistency in crime recording The main principles of the NCRS for England and Wales are similar to the SCRS with regard to when a crime should be recorded However there are various differences between the respective Counting Rules in that they s
91. oncluded in Scottish courts This includes a summary of crimes and offences dealt with by courts sentencing outcomes and characteristics of convicted offenders Additional information on a range of non court disposals issued by the police and by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are also presented Statistics dealing with recorded crime included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin and companion bulletins and court proceedings included in the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletin are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim and there is the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be reviewed in the course of judicial proceedings In addition a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year The Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletins can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubCriminalProceedings 17 9 Prison Statistics Scotland The Prison Statistics Scotland bulletin presents on the average daily population of prisoners and the number of receptions disaggregated by age gender sentence type sentence length and main crime Prison receptions provide a useful indication of flows through the prison service but are not equivalent to persons received If a person enters prison on remand or having been sentenced by one court thi
92. orded under the relevant legislation Group 5 Other crimes e 34004 United Nations Sanctions Offences Iraq United Nations Sanctions Order 2000 11 1 8 2011 12 On 1 March 2012 the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act 2012 was implemented The Act introduced two new offences Offensive behaviour at football and Threatening communications The following new crime codes were introduced in Group 6 Miscellaneous offences as a result of implementation of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act 2012 e 47010 Offensive behaviour at football under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Scotland Act 2012 e 47011 Threatening communications under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Scotland Act 2012 The crime code 59003 Taking distribution etc indecent photos of children was moved from the Other miscellaneous offences category in Group 6 Miscellaneous offences to the Other sexual crimes category in Group 2 Sexual crimes following the introduction of the similar crime code 18018 Taking distribution possession etc 50 of indecent photos of children in 2010 11 This change was back revised to when the crime code 59003 Taking distribution etc indecent photos of children was introduced in 2009 10 This means that since 2009 10 all such crimes are now classified as crimes and not offences In Apri
93. otland Analysis and Performance Unit Independent scrutiny of Police Scotland s performance is also undertaken by the SPA who examine statistical information at regular board meetings 3 1 1 Crime Registrars The crime registrars within Police Scotland ensure that crimes in Scotland are recorded ethically They also undertake internal audits of the crimes which are recorded Three regional crime registrars are managed by the national crime registrar As well as having regional responsibilities these three registrars each lead on a specific aspect of crime recording training audit and maintaining the Counting Rules 3 2 Scottish Police Authority The Scottish Police Authority SPA is responsible for e policing principles set out in the Police and Fire Reform Scotland Act 2012 e delivering continuous improvement in policing and e holding the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to account The SPA use their performance framework to carry out their monitoring function of policing The framework consists of e aself assessment module for SPA to assess their own performance e aset of corporate support indicators and e Performance on a Page PoP a set of 20 high level strategic indicators Although the PoP is wider than recorded crime data most of the information contained within it comes from Police Scotland Further information on the SPA performance framework can be accessed here http www spa police uk performancepages spap
94. ous recommendations made by HMICS regarding crime recording have been the subject of a Police Scotland action plan There has been good progress to date and HMICS will follow up on these recommendations in more detail in a future review of crime recording HMICS have welcomed regular dialogue with Police Scotland about crime recording practice Day to day crime recording decisions are overseen by crime management units and consideration should be given to how best to safeguard the independence of their decision making There is a good system of internal auditing of crime recording within Police Scotland The results of the internal audits are broadly similar to our own which should provide assurance to the Scottish Police Authority local scrutiny and engagement bodies and the Scottish Government as to their accuracy 33 e There is an opportunity for greater external scrutiny of crime recording by the Scottish Police Authority and local authority scrutiny and engagement bodies This will broaden and strengthen the existing assurance framework around crime data e While there remains variation in crime recording practice across Scotland Police Scotland is committed to improving consistency and achieving greater compliance with the SCRS Variations in legacy force practices are being identified and eliminated HMICS would expect to see steady improvement in compliance rates in internal audits by Police Scotland and in future audits by HMICS
95. pecify different approaches for counting the number of crimes that should be recorded as a result of a single incident Crimes recorded in England and Wales tend to be incident based with the Principle Crime Rule of the HOCR stating e Ifthe sequence of crimes in an incident or a complex crime contains more than one type of crime then count the most serious crime Whereas under the SCRS and Scottish Government Counting Rules in most cases each of the individual crimes or offences would be separately recorded For example an incident where an intruder breaks into a home and assaults the sole occupant would be recorded as two crimes in Scotland while in England and Wales it would be recorded as one crime There are rules relating to subsuming crimes in Scotland but these relates mainly to crimes of dishonesty and damage to property where all crimes occur at the same time at the same locus to the same victim For example when a house is broken into property stolen and other property within the house damaged For further information on the subsuming of crimes in Scotland please see Section D of the SCRS 22 In addition there is the Finished Incident Rule in the HOCR which does not apply in Scotland The Finished Incident Rule states e Anincident comprising a sequence of crimes between the same offender or group of offenders and the same victim should be counted as one crime if reported to the police all at once In Scotland simila
96. physical abuse Follow up questions are asked if respondents specify that their experience s of abuse took place within the 12 months leading up to their survey interview The definition of partner abuse applied in the SCJS is in line with the definition adopted by the police in recording domestic abuse given above The result of the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey Partner Abuse self completion module can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice crime and justice survey publications 17 2 Homicide in Scotland The Homicide in Scotland bulletin presents statistics on the number of homicide cases recorded in Scotland where a single case of homicide is counted for each incident involving Murder or Culpable homicide common law irrespective of the number of victims or accused The Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin contains the top 35 category Homicide etc The Homicide etc category contains the crimes of Murder and Culpable homicide common law as well as the crimes of Causing death by dangerous driving Death 66 by careless driving when under influence of drink or drugs Causing death by careless driving Illegal driver involved in fatal accident and Corporate homicide The Homicide in Scotland bulletin contains more detailed information on the crimes of Murder and Culpable homicide common law These two crimes are collectively referred to as Homicide in this bulletin The data in Homic
97. presentatives from the Scottish Government The membership of the group has been reviewed as recommended by the 2013 HMICS Review of Incident and Crime Recording This led to the British Transport Police and the Ministry of Defence Police joining the group Discussions are on going regarding extending membership of the group further to also include stakeholders such as voluntary organisations with an interest in crime recording 27 9 Data quality Within the Scottish Government the Justice Analytical Services JAS Division is responsible for the collection quality assurance and publication of police recorded crime statistics A wide range of mechanisms are employed to ensure the robustness of police recorded crime data The data that were collected from the legacy police forces were collected on a cumulative quarterly basis and a number of detailed quality assurance checks were carried out by JAS This included the checking of data across the cumulative quarters to ensure data consistency as the year progresses checking data across legacy police force areas to ensure consistency and confirming local differences and comparing figures year on year investigating where substantial differences appear Any oddities in the data are then brought to the attention of the relevant police contacts for clarification Where errors have been identified corrections can be made to the data and where the data is genuine explanations are sought to explai
98. r rules exist for the recording of historical crime such as sexual crimes or violent crime where a number of crimes are made known to Police Scotland at the same time However in Scotland where individual dates and times are known or where a difference locus is identified separate crimes will be recorded It should be noted that while in Scotland crimes and offences are grouped under recognised categories for statistical proposes as defined by the Scottish Government no such distinction is made in England and Wales All crimes are recorded by the police in England and Wales but they are split into two categories notifiable and non notifiable crimes with the HOCR applying to notifiable crimes Only those crimes that are notifiable are submitted to the Home Office in statistical returns and then in turn published by ONS in their quarterly Statistical bulletin Crime in England and Wales Whereas all crime and offences recorded by Police Scotland are submitted to the Scottish Government in their statistical return and published in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin Notifiable crimes include all crimes that could possibly be tried by jury these include some less serious crimes such as minor theft that would not usually be dealt with this way plus a few additional closely related summary offences dealt with by magistrates such as assault without injury Non notifiable crimes are crimes dealt with exclusively by a magistrates court or by the
99. re likely to create confusion than to be helpful Many users did think that occasional papers or topic reports that focussed on an issue and brought together all the sources of information pertinent to that in particular more detailed qualitative evidence would be helpful Suggestions included domestic abuse crime and alcohol and justice and health Related to this were discussions about the potential benefits of exploratory reports looking into the possible causes of changes in crime statistics and joining up the evidence story between statistics qualitative research and evaluations of initiatives and campaigns e g drink driving campaigns Few users were familiar with Police Scotland management information and several suggested that more should be done to raise awareness of that source of information 20 2 2 User views on Recorded Crime in Scotland statistics Users reported that the consistency over time of recorded crime statistics was valuable and much appreciated and the crimes per 10 000 population statistics were probably the most useful Several users requested no changes to the statistics as they are so useful just as they are Users were largely very satisfied that recorded crime statistics are produced annually although some users did mention that an improvement to timeliness not frequency would be valuable Multiple users at the event said that recorded crime statistics are needed at lower levels of geograp
100. ributes positively to a flourishing Scotland helping to create an inclusive and respectful society in which all people and communities live in safety and security where individual and collective rights are supported and where disputes are resolved fairly and swiftly 3 4 1 ScotStat crime and justice committee Statisticians in the Scottish Government s Justice Analytical Services Division are members of the ScotStat Crime and Justice Committee The remit of the ScotStat Crime and Justice Committee is e Through liaison between users and providers of statistics on crime and justice to identify the key strategic statistical information required by all interested parties and to develop and implement a strategy for prioritising and meeting these needs while minimising the burden on data suppliers and maintaining data quality fit for purpose Further information on the ScotStat Crime and Justice Committee can be accessed here http Awww scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice scotstatcrime crimeremit 11 4 Statistics from Police Scotland the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Government Police Scotland the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Government all publish police recorded crime data in different ways that meets each organisation s requirements 4 1 Police Scotland Police Scotland publishes management information on an annual and quarterly basis by local authority and by police division a
101. rime data at a lower geography than this Again the establishment Police Scotland and the intended implementation of a new national IT system for Police Scotland could allow the Scottish Government to publish data at some of the geographic levels requested by respondents to the consultation Until the new national IT system is in place the Scottish Government will only be able to publish data at local authority level The full results of the user consultation can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice scotstatcrime StakeCon RCUC2014 This was the second consultation on the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin with the previous consultation being undertaken in winter 2009 The results of this consultation can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice scotstatcrime StakeCon RecCrimeCons Following the publication of the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2013 14 bulletin a further consultation of users will be undertaken to assess how the revised content of the bulletin following police reform meets users needs In addition other matters relating to recorded crime statistics such as the revisions policy will be consulted upon at the same time Users of recorded crime statistics will be informed of the details of this consultation via the ScotStat network To ensure you receive up to date information on recorded crime or any other statistical publications p
102. rimes against the person and crimes against property Once the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2013 14 bulletin is published the data on SNS will be revised to take into account the new top 35 categories that were introduced in this bulletin The recorded crime data can be found in the Crime and Justice topic area on the SNS website The data provided are crimes and offences recorded by the police clear up rates and crimes and offences rates per 10 000 population Please note that clear up rates for Group 7 Motor Vehicle Offences are not included For further information on the reason behind this please see the section on Clear Up Rates The SNS website can be accessed here http www sns gov uk 64 17 Other statistical bulletins using police data For those that are interested in the overall level of recorded crime in Scotland the best source of data is the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin In addition the Scottish Government publishes four topic specific bulletins that are based on police recorded crime data The bulletins are Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland Homicide in Scotland Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland and Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms The relationship between the data included in these bulletins and the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin are detailed below The Scottish Government also publishes three other bulletins based on data collected from the police Drug Seizures Re
103. rms e Reckless conduct with firearms Includes e Perjury e Resisting arrest e Bail offences other than absconding or re offending e Wasting police time Includes e Possession of an offensive weapon e Restriction of offensive weapons e Having in a public place an article with a blade or point e Having in prison an article with a blade or 40 Drugs Other 10 2 Offences Group 6 Miscellaneous offences Common assault Breach of the peace etc Drunkenness and other disorderly conduct point e Possession of a firearm in a prison e Possession of an offensive weapon not elsewhere specified in a prison Includes e Importation of drugs e Production manufacture or cultivation of drugs e Possession and supply of controlled drugs e Related money laundering offences e Bringing drugs into prison Includes e Treason Conspiracy Explosives offences Wrecking piracy and hijacking Crimes against public order Includes e Common assault e Common assault of an emergency worker Includes e Breach of the peace e Threatening or abusive behaviour e Offence of stalking e Offensive behaviour at football Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act 2012 e Threatening communications Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act 2012 Includes e Drunk and disorderly e Drunk and incapable e Drunk in charge of a child e Drunk and attempti
104. rs of incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police using the definition of domestic abuse as shown above Following current terminology these incidents are now referred to as incidents of domestic abuse Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland is based on incidents of domestic abuse It is likely that some of the incidents will involve repeat victims or perpetrators As a result incident numbers will be higher than the actual number of victims or perpetrators Not all incidents will result in the recording of a crime or offence We therefore recommend that users interested in domestic abuse and the crimes and offences that result from these incidents should refer directly to the Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin series The Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin series contains data on the number of homicides where the relationship of the victim to the accused was 65 either partner or ex partner The term partner or ex partner includes spouse separated or divorced spouse cohabitee lover boy girlfriend and ex boy girlfriend This corresponds to data that are also included in the Homicide in Scotland bulletin series The Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletins can be accessed here http Awww scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubDomesticAbuse The statistics reported in the Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland do not rev
105. rty dwelling and non dwelling Theft by Housebreaking other property Housebreaking with intent to steal domestic property dwelling and non dwelling Housebreaking with intent to steal other property Attempted Housebreaking with intent to enter and steal domestic property dwelling and non dwelling Attempted Housebreaking with intent to enter and steal other property Theft by opening lockfast places excluding motor vehicle OLP excluding motor vehicle with intent to steal Attempted OLP excluding motor vehicle with intent to steal Includes Theft by OLP from a motor vehicle OLP with intent to steal from a motor vehicle Attempted OLP with intent to steal from a motor vehicle Theft of a motor vehicle and contents Attempted theft of a motor vehicle 39 Shoplifting Other theft Fraud Other crimes of dishonesty Group 4 Fire raising vandalism etc Fire raising Vandalism etc Group 5 Other crimes Crimes against public justice Handling offensive weapons Shoplifting Includes e Theft of pedal cycles e Theft from a motor vehicle not elsewhere classified Includes e Common law fraud e Statutory fraud e Forgery and uttering excluding currency crimes Includes e Forgery other e Reset e Embezzlement e Corruption Includes e Fire raising e Muirburn Includes e Malicious mischief e Vandalism e Culpable and Reckless conduct not with firea
106. rugs into prison Within the Other sexual crimes category in Group 2 Sexual crimes the crime code 59003 Taking distribution etc indecent photos of children was combined with 18018 Taking distribution possession etc of indecent photos of children and then removed This change will not affect comparability over time 11 1 10 2013 14 Prior to 2013 14 Group 2 was called Sexual offences as this corresponds to the name of the legislation Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2009 covering these crimes This led to some confusion as to whether this group was being included in crimes or offences To emphasise that these are crimes as they always have been Group 2 was renamed Sexual crimes The corresponding name changes were made to the other top 35 categories and individual crime codes in Group 2 The top 35 category Homicide was renamed Homicide etc to reflect that this category contains the crimes of Murder and Culpable homicide common law as well as the crimes of Causing death by dangerous driving Death by careless driving when under influence of drink or drugs Causing death by careless driving Illegal driver involved in fatal accident and Corporate homicide The change in the category name was to avoid confusion with the Homicide in Scotland Bulletin In the Homicide in Scotland bulletin the crimes of Murder and Culpable homicide common law are collectively referred to as Homicide The top 35 category Drunkenness was renamed Drun
107. s justice sector including the public and the leaders and senior managers from across Scotland s justice sector The Dashboard will support and enable better communication and understanding between individuals and organisations of statistical information to assess and demonstrate performance in delivering justice outcomes The Justice Dashboard can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk About Performance scotPerforms partnerstories Justice Dashboard 19 2 1 4 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation Recorded crime data are used in the development of the crime domain of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation SIMD The data used to compile the SIMD 75 crime domain are a subset of all crimes and offences Those crimes and offences included are shown below SIMD crime domain crimes and offences Group 1 Non sexual crimes of violence Non sexual crimes of Violence Group 2 Sexual crimes Sexual Crimes Includes Murder Attempted murder Culpable homicide common law Causing death by dangerous driving Death by careless driving under the influence of drink or drugs Causing death by careless driving Illegal driver involved in fatal accident Corporate homicide Serious assault Robbery and assault with intent to rob Threats and extortion Cruelty to and unnatural treatment of children Child stealing plagium Exposing child under 7 to risk of burning Abortion Concealment of pregnancy Possess a firearm
108. s and fuel pumps which took effect from 1 April 2010 Prior to this such crimes would have been recorded within the Theft by opening lockfast places OLP category under the crime code 20001 Theft by opening lockfast places excluding motor vehicle Such crimes will now be classified under the crime code 25000 Fraud within the Fraud category Caution should therefore be taken when comparing these two crime codes and top 35 categories with previous years In addition within Group 3 Crimes of dishonesty there was also a reclassification of crimes of forgery and uttering which also took effect from 1 April 2010 Prior to this such crimes would have been recorded within the Other dishonesty category under the crime code 26000 Forgery other Such crimes will now be classified under the crime code 25000 Fraud within the Fraud category Caution should therefore be taken when comparing these two crime codes and top 35 categories with previous years The following new crime codes were introduced as a result of new legislation and there was a requirement to identify these crimes separately Group 1 Non sexual crimes of violence e 11008 Offences relating to Serious Organised Crime Criminal Justice and Licensing Scotland Act 2010 Group 5 Other crimes e 38019 Protection of vulnerable groups The Protection of Vulnerable Groups Act 2007 The following new crime code was introduced as this was the first year a crime was rec
109. s is counted as one reception Where a person subsequently receives a custodial sentence after a period on remand or while serving 70 another custodial sentence this constitutes a further reception If several custodial sentences are imposed on the same person by two or more courts in one day this counts as several receptions Admissions represent another measure of flow which reflects the number of separate episodes in custody This may be useful in some cases for instance assessing the number and type of induction procedures required and costs associated with this process Direct sentenced prison receptions this excludes receptions for fine default and recalls from supervision or licence are counted differently from custodial court disposals published in the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletin series Most of this difference can be explained by the fact that when a person is given consecutive custodial sentences for several separate sets of charges from the same court on the same day this is counted as two custodial sentences in the court statistics but only one direct sentenced reception The Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletin series is therefore the best information source for trends in sentencing as it better reflects actual sentencing practice The Prison Statistics Scotland bulletins can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubPrisons 17 10 Reconviction Rates in Scotland
110. s of Scottish Government directors non executive directors and heads of organisation from public sector justice organisations such as Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority The Justice Board works to ensure the effective operation of the justice system in Scotland The Strategy for Justice in Scotland can be assessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Justice justicestrategy 19 2 1 3 Justice Dashboard The Justice Dashboard was developed to provide a strategic view of performance and delivery and to ensure accountability and a consistent approach to performance measurement across the Justice portfolio It was developed in conjunction with the Justice Board and consists of a set of key indicators based around the justice outcomes These show progress in the delivery of our work in justice and reflect the Scotland Performs approach to monitoring the delivery of National Outcomes using a series of National Indicators Trend information is summarised in simple colour coded graphic form on the Scottish Government website and is consistent with the general methodological approach used by Scotland Performs to determine direction of travel The Dashboard is updated with the latest available data and is reviewed on a regular basis All data in the Dashboard are already publicly available the Dashboard rings this data together in a single consistent way The main audiences for the Justice Dashboard are those interested in Scotland
111. s to illustrate trends within crime and offence groups and improvements to existing charts to make them clearer and easier to understand Tables have been kept to a high level of geography and crime groups however more data will be accessible online via excel tables which will make more time series data available at local authority level e The publication of a Technical Report Recorded Crime Comparability of Police Scotland and Legacy Force Data The aim of the Crime Comparability of Police Scotland and Legacy Force Data report is to Investigate the comparability of Police Scotland data and legacy force data and 14 Check the quality of recorded crime data supplied by the police The development of a Framework of Assurance The purpose of the Framework of Assurance can be summed up as the provision of evidence to inform judgements by the Scottish Government as the statistics producers and by users on The suitability of the administrative data for use in producing official statistics Factors the Scottish Government needs to take into account in producing the official statistics and The information that users need to know in order to make informed use of the statistics The production of a User Guide As stated in the Introduction this user guide was prepared to provide detailed information on the Recorded Crime in Scotland statistical bulletin published by the Scottish Government and the data that are
112. s well as at a national level The first annual report was for 2013 14 the first year following the establishment of Police Scotland Police Scotland also provides regular reports to the scrutiny boards of Scotland s 32 local authorities as well as management information updates to the Scottish Police Authority which are discussed at the full public board meetings Police Scotland publishes all of these reports on the Our Performance section of the Police Scotland website The reports can be accessed here http www scotland police uk about us our performance 4 2 Scottish Police Authority The Scottish Police Authority SPA has developed a Performance Framework which allows it to monitor and evaluate the performance of the police The SPA will analyse monitor and report on the information gathered through this Framework on a regular basis using information primarily but not exclusively provided to them by Police Scotland Part of this framework is a set of key performance indicators which are used to gather information about levels and quality of service and public perception As such not all the measures relate to police performance with some giving context around the demands placed on the police and or the environment in which the police operate There are 20 high level indicators which are aligned with the four Strategic Policing Priorities and the seven SPA Strategic Objectives set out in the SPA s Strategic Plan These strat
113. series for this data However the overall comparability for offences data Groups 6 and 7 has been affected by some of the issues relating to legacy force data and changes in recording practices For Group 6 Miscellaneous offences all crime codes are fully comparable from 2008 09 onwards and overall comparisons for Group 6 Miscellaneous offences should only be made for 2008 09 onwards There are greater comparability issues for Group 7 Motor vehicle offences and overall comparisons for Group 7 Motor vehicle offences should not be made prior to 2013 14 This is discussed fully in Section 7 of the Recorded Crime Comparability of Police Scotland and Legacy Force Data report Overall the Scottish Government are confident that SCOMIS will provide data which are accurate and reliable for inclusion in the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2013 14 35 bulletin and future bulletins With the inconsistencies in the data due to different reporting practices in the legacy forces the Scottish Government will ensure that these are taken into account when disseminating recorded crime statistics and complete explanations will be provided in the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2013 14 bulletin of what is and what is not comparable The full version of the report can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubRecordedCrime TechnicalReport 36 10 Classification of crimes and offences Charge codes
114. stics are used by a variety of stakeholders including Police Scottish Prison Service HMICS Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service local and central government community partnerships charities and support groups academics students private sector organisations and interested members of the public Recorded crime statistics are used throughout the Scottish Government as well as by a variety of stakeholders including local authorities police Scottish Prison Service HMICS Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service community partnerships charities and support groups academics students private sector organisations and interested members of the public The Scottish Government engage with a range of users in different ways For example this can either be via consultations on the Scottish Government website in person at User Days meetings of the ScotStat Crime and Justice Committee or internal Scottish Government analytical seminars Users are also engaged via email ScotStat emails direct correspondence with individuals and telephone correspondence 19 2 Uses of Recorded Crime Statistics There are expert and non expert users of crime statistics in all sectors and from the evidence gathered at the Scottish Government crime statistics user event held in Edinburgh on 6 October 2014 it appears that there is little or no association between the level of expertise and the reason why the statistics are used Level of expertise is
115. t Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms 6 1 Recording a crime An incident will be recorded as a crime if e the circumstances amount to a crime defined by Scots Law or an offence under statute and e there is no credible evidence to the contrary Where children under 8 are reported as having been involved in criminal behaviour prior to recording a crime record the police officer involved must determine whether a crime in fact has been committed or whether it was accidental unintentional The degree to which Police Scotland investigate an initial report from a victim or person reasonably assumed to be acting on behalf of the victim to establish whether a crime has occurred or not will vary with the circumstances of the report Such investigation may range from questioning over the telephone when the initial report is made to fuller investigation of the circumstances surrounding the allegation However it is envisaged such further investigations to facilitate the crime recording decision would be the exception not the norm Where officers can identify the persons involved from an image and on the balance of probabilities the officer believes that a crime has occurred an investigation should be considered If enquiry establishes a crime has occurred a crime record should be raised Where a crime type has been amended on a crime record particularly if a crime is being upgrade
116. the Police in Scotland bulletin series the above definition is used The data in Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police bulletin are collected via a separate data collection from the police and are for each recorded racist incident The return is a simple count of the number of incidents recorded by the police and the crimes or offences victims complainers and perpetrators arising from these incidents In an incident one or more victims complainers may be involved and there may be one or more perpetrators There may be no criminal element or several crimes or offences may be recorded by the police The Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin contains the number of crimes and offences which were a result of racist incidents in the relevant top 35 categories but the majority of these crimes and offences are not separately identifiable as having resulted from a racist incident Within Group 6 there are two specific crime codes in the Other miscellaneous category for racially aggravated offences 47004 Racially aggravated harassment and 47005 Racially aggravated conduct The two crime codes for racially aggravated offences are given in Table A9 of the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin We therefore recommend that users interested in racist incidents and the crimes and offences that result from these incidents should refer directly to the Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin series The Racist Incidents Recorded by the
117. thin the corporate services business area within Police Scotland which is within the portfolio of the Deputy Chief Constable Designate and which is led by the Director of Corporate Services Within corporate services crime recording sits within the risk and business assurance section and is led on a day to day basis by the national crime registrar There are three regional crime registrars north east and west who are managed by the national crime registrar As well as having regional responsibilities these three registrars each lead on a specific aspect of crime recording training audit and maintaining the Counting Rules The crime registrars sit within the corporate services business area so that they are removed from direct police operational activity and investigation This ensures crime registrars are separated from operational decision making and performance issues Day to day crime recording decisions are made by crime managers who lead crime management units There are 14 such units in Police Scotland one in each division The crime management units are responsible for crime recording practice in their respective divisions Their core functions include ensuring SCRS compliance and allocating crime reports to officers for enquiry The overall crime registrar structure within Police Scotland is shown in Figure 8 1 The HMICS Review of Incident and Crime Recording published in December 2013 gave the following recommendation e Pol
118. thority and the chief constable may make arrangements under which the Authority is to provide assistance to the Police Service or the Police Service is to provide assistance to the Authority e Such assistance may involve members of the Authority s staff providing services for the Police Service or constables or police staff providing services for the Authority Police information e The Authority must provide the Scottish Ministers with such reports statistics or other information relating to the Authority or the Police Service as they may reasonably require e Such information may in particular relate to the Authority or its functions the Police Service or police functions the state of crime e The chief constable must provide the Authority with such reports statistics or other information relating to the Police Service police functions or the state of crime as it may reasonably require The full Police and Fire Reform Scotland Act 2012 can be accessed here http www legislation gov uk asp 2012 8 contents 3 1 Police Scotland Police Scotland collect management information for operational policing purposes This administrative data source is also used to provide a data return on the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police as well as the number cleared up ina given financial year to the Scottish Government Police Scotland statistics are managed collated and analysed by the Police Sc
119. tish Crime and Justice Survey to present a clearer picture of crime in Scotland providing comprehensive data to inform and support users of the statistics It presents a summary of both sources outlines high level trends both overall and by crime groups presents some of the challenges in making comparisons and details 15 how the Scottish Government recommends comparisons should be made using a comparable subset of crime Improved engagement with a wider range of users The Scottish Government is planning a range of ways to improve its engagement with a wider range of users For example on Monday 6 October 2014 the Scottish Government held a Crime Statistics User Event in Edinburgh The event brought together both producers and users of Scottish crime statistics The purpose of the event was to give users and producers of crime statistics an opportunity to discuss Recorded Crime in Scotland and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey There were several presentations and a number of group discussions about the uses potential uses quality comparability accessibility and presentation of the statistics Further information on the User Event can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice scotstatcrime 16 6 Scottish Crime Recording Standard Crime Recording and Scottish Government Counting Rules On 1 April 2004 the Scottish Crime Recording Standard SCRS was introduced throughout S
120. together crimes and offences that are not recorded in large numbers This change has been backdated so that all offences recorded as crime code 47003 Urinating etc are now classified in the Urinating etc category Therefore comparisons over time for these two 35 categories have not been affected e The category Seat belt offences was added This category contains one crime code 323000 Seat belt offences Previously this crime code would have been included in the Other motor vehicle offences category This was done so that the large number of seat belt related offences could be separately identified and not just classified in the Other motor vehicle offences category Other categories like the Other motor vehicle offences category are intended for grouping together crimes and offences that are not recorded in large numbers This change has been backdated so that all offences recorded as crime code 323000 Seat belt offences are now classified in the Seat belt offences category Therefore comparisons over time for these two 35 categories have not been affected e The category Mobile phone offences was added This category contains one crime code 324000 Mobile phone offences Previously this crime code would have been included in the Other motor vehicle offences category This was done so that the large number of driving related mobile phone offences could be separately identified and not just classified in the Other motor vehicle offences categor
121. ues including drug taking partner abuse sexual victimisation and stalking Recorded crime and the SCJS are complementary sources of crime statistics in Scotland that together provide a more comprehensive picture of crime The estimates produced by crime surveys are higher than the level of crime recorded by the police This shows that for many reasons not all crime comes to the attention of the police Therefore a key strength of the SCUJS is its ability to capture crimes that are not reported to and therefore not recorded by the police The information provided by such surveys complements the information compiled by Police Scotland as well as exploring other issues such as the impact of crime on victims public anxieties and reactions to crime and attitudes towards the police and other parts of the criminal justice system In summary an important role of the SCJS is to provide an alternative and complementary measure of crime to the police recorded crime statistics Further information on SCJS can be accessed here http Awww scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice crime and justice survey 60 15 2 Comparing police recorded crime and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey Table 15 1 presents an overview of recorded crime and the SCJS highlighting the strengths and limitations of each source as well as the additional information offered by each Neither source alone is able to provide the full picture of crime in S
122. umber of homicides where the relationship of the victim to the accused was either partner or ex partner The term partner or ex partner includes spouse separated or divorced spouse cohabitee lover boy girlfriend and ex boy girlfriend This corresponds to data that are also included in the Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin series The Homicide in Scotland bulletin series contains data on the number of homicides where the main method of killing was with a firearm This corresponds to data that are also included in the Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms bulletin series The Homicide in Scotland bulletins can be accessed here http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubHomicide 17 3 Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland The Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland bulletin presents statistics on racist incidents In response to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry in 1999 the then Scottish Executive produced an action plan to progress the recommendations set out in the MacPherson Report which included the setting up of a statistical collection covering racist incidents The definition of a racist incident as given by Sir William MacPherson in his report on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry is A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person 67 In the context of the data for the Racist Incidents Recorded by
123. uous improvement HMICS also have an established role in providing professional advice and guidance on policing in Scotland HMICS s powers allow them to do anything they consider necessary or expedient for the purposes of or in connection with the carrying out of their functions The SPA and the Chief Constable must provide HMICS with such assistance and co operation 7 as they may require to carry out their functions and must comply with any reasonable request that they make When HMICS publish a report the SPA and the Chief Constable must also consider what HMICS have found and take such measures if any as they think fit Where HMICS make recommendations they will follow them up and report publicly on progress Further information on HMICS can be found on their website http www hmics org 3 Roles of organisations This section provides information about the roles and responsibilities of the organisations involved in the publication and production of crime statistics in Scotland The Police and Fire Reform Scotland Act 2012 and its associated secondary legislation and guidance sets out the legislative framework for the new policing landscape and replaces previous legislation Chapter 12 of the Act provides information related to co operation and the exchange of information across Scottish Government Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority Co operation between Scottish Police Authority and Police Service e The Au
124. upon 59 15 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey There are two principal sources of crime statistics in Scotland namely police recorded crime published in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey SCJS a national survey which asks respondents about their experiences of crime Each source has strengths and limitations but together they provide a more comprehensive picture of crime and help to measure the extent and impact of crime in Scotland 15 1 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey The SCJS is a national survey obtaining responses from around 12 000 adults aged 16 and over living in private households The main aims of the SCJS are to e Examine trends in the number and nature of crimes in Scotland over time providing a complementary measure of crime compared with police recorded crime statistics e Examine the varying risk of crime for different groups of adults in the population e Provide a valid and reliable measure of adults experience of crime including services provided to victims of crime e Collect information about adults experiences of and attitudes to a range of crime and justice related issues Respondents are selected at random from the Postal Address File and participation in the survey is entirely voluntary The survey is based on face to face interviews and respondents are also asked to answer a separate self completion module on more confidential and sensitive iss
125. ustice system Limitations Partially reliant on the Does not cover all crimes e g public reporting crime homicide or victimless crimes Reporting rates may vary such as speeding by the type of crime e g Does not cover the entire crimes more likely to be population e g children reported include serious homeless people or people living crime and crimes such in communal accommodation as housebreaking where Unable to produce robust data at recording is required for lower level geographies insurance purposes Difficult to measure trends Trends can be affected between survey sweeps in rarer by legislation public forms of crime such as more reporting practices serious offences police recording Subject to quantifiable non practices quantifiable error What other Additional data on Public perceptions about crime data are homicides racist e Worry about crime and the collected incidents domestic perceived likelinood of being a abuse incidents and victim firearm offences Confidence in the police and the criminal justice system Prevalence estimates on sensitive topics partner abuse sexual victimisation stalking and drug use 62 The sort of differences outlined in Table 15 1 should be noted when considering how to use results derived from each source of crime statistics For example police recorded crime results are updated more frequently and cover a wider range of crimes than the SCJS In addition recorde
126. vidual crimes or offences and incidents are available The establishment of Police Scotland and the intended implementation of a new national IT system for Police Scotland could provide the opportunity for the Scottish Government to collect and publish statistics based on individual level data thus allowing victim and perpetrator data to be published Until the implementation of the new IT system it is not feasible to publish recorded crime data with victim or perpetrator data included It should be noted that the Scottish Government does publish companion Official Statistics bulletins that are based on individual level crime and offence data ona number of topics Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland Homicide in Scotland Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms 21 2 Frequency of releases Prior to police reform data on recorded crimes and offences were collected from the police on a cumulative quarterly basis While the Scottish Government could make an estimate of the crimes and offences which had been recorded in a given quarter this may not be accurate as the classification of crimes and offences can change or they can be no crimed as they are further investigated by the police For further information on no criming please see the section on No Criming The Scottish Government could therefore not publish accurate quarterly data To collect true quarterly data the
127. w scotland gov uk Topics Statistics Browse Crime Justice PubRecordedCrime Classification The crime codes in Groups 6 and 7 which are non comparable have also been highlighted in the Excel file 10 1 Crimes Group 1 Non sexual crimes of violence Homicide etc Attempted murder and serious assault Also referred to as Crimes of violence Includes e Murder e Culpable homicide Culpable homicide common law Causing death by dangerous driving Causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs Causing death by careless driving llegal driver involved in fatal accident Corporate homicide Includes e Attempted murder e Serious assault An assault is classified as serious if the victim sustained an injury resulting in 37 Robbery Other Group 2 Sexual crimes Rape and attempted rape Sexual assault Crimes associated with prostitution detention in hospital as an in patient or any of the following injuries whether or not he she was detained in hospital fractures internal injuries severe concussion lacerations requiring sutures which may lead to impairment or disfigurement or any other injury which may lead to impairment or disfigurement Robbery and assault with intent to rob Includes e Threats and extortion Cruel and unnatural treatment of children Abortion Concealment of pregnancy Possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life
128. y Other categories like the Other motor vehicle offences category are intended for grouping together crimes and offences that are not recorded in large numbers This change has been backdated so that all offences recorded as crime code 324000 Mobile phone offences are now classified in the Mobile phone offences category Therefore comparisons over time for these two 35 categories have not been affected Within the Other miscellaneous offences category in Group 6 Miscellaneous offences the crime code 51010 Dangerous Dogs failure to control supervise destroy was combined with the crime code 51012 Offences involving dangerous dogs and then removed This change will not affect comparability over time 53 11 1 11 2014 15 The crime code 18024 Possession of extreme pornography was introduced and included in Group 2 Sexual crimes within the Other sexual crimes category This was done so that such crimes could be separately identified Previously such crimes would have been classified as offences in the Group 6 Miscellaneous offences category Other miscellaneous offences under the crime code 59001 Handling obscene material It was not possible to disaggregate any crimes that would have been recorded as 18024 Possession of extreme pornography prior to 2014 15 As some offences that would have previously been classified as 59001 Handling obscene material will no longer be classified in this way and so caution should therefore be t
129. years Within Group 2 Sexual crimes the top 35 categories Indecent assault and Lewd and indecent behaviour were combined and renamed Sexual assault In addition a new top 35 category Prostitution was added to Group 2 Sexual crimes The Prostitution category only contained one crime code when it was introduced 18010 Offences related to prostitution Further information on the changes in the top 35 categories within Group 2 Sexual crimes can be accessed here 47 http www scotland gov uk T opics Statistics Browse Crime Justice Group2OffenceComparabi The crime code 18011 Clandestine injury was removed due to the introduction of new crime codes as a result of the implementation of the Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2009 where crimes previously classified as this crime could now be classified elsewhere The following new crime codes were introduced within Group 2 Sexual crimes as a result of implementation of the Sexual Offences Scotland Act 2009 14001 Rape of male 16 14002 Rape of female 16 14003 Rape of older male child 13 15 years 14004 Rape of older female child 13 15 years 14005 Rape of young male child Under 13 14006 Rape of young female child Under 13 15001 Assault with intent to rape male 16 15002 Assault with intent to rape female 16 15003 Assault with intent to rape older male child 13 15 15004 Assault with intent to rape older female child 13 15 15005 Assault w

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