Police recording standards slipping

20 Sep 07
The police service in England and Wales has been urged to improve its crime recording after auditors found that standards had slipped in more than a quarter of forces.

21 September 2007

The police service in England and Wales has been urged to improve its crime recording after auditors found that standards had slipped in more than a quarter of forces.

A joint report by the Audit Commission and the Wales Audit Office found that although 88% of forces are now either 'good' or 'excellent' at recording crime data, 26% (11 out of 43) had been downgraded since last year.

Overall, 92% of crime records had correctly classified the crimes involved. But, while recording of domestic violence and disturbance had improved, that of racial incidents and violent crime had deteriorated.

Nine forces, including West Midlands, West Mercia and Warwickshire, performed poorly in correctly recording such crimes – up from five last year.

Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred said: 'Data quality may sound bureaucratic, but it is about the police listening to the public, recording correctly the information they give and acting on it.'

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