30 June 2006
Police forces were this week urged to continue to improve their crime recording practices after auditors identified areas of concern.
The Audit Commission and the Wales Audit Office examined how well the 43 English and Welsh police forces have recorded crime data over the past three years.
Their report, Crime recording 2005, published on June 29, found that one-fifth of forces failed to meet the minimum requirements set out by the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Two forces — Avon & Somerset and Hampshire — are rated poor for their management arrangements to maintain and improve compliance with crime-recording standards. Their performance, along with Dorset's, has deteriorated since they were last reviewed.
A further 18 forces failed to improve over the course of 2005. Just one force — Northumbria — achieved an 'excellent' rating for its management arrangements.
Audit Commission chief executive Steve Bundred said that, overall, improvement had been good, with the majority of forces (35) now rated as 'excellent' or 'good'.
Bundred said: 'Accurate, timely and reliable data is vital in reducing crime and making communities safer. Improvement over the past three years has been significant.'
But he added that he was concerned at the number of forces achieving their higher rating by relying on expensive and time-consuming data-checking processes, instead of making sure they record crimes correctly first time.
Simon Cole, assistant chief constable of Hampshire and Acpo lead on crime statistics, said: 'Working with police authorities, every force will now develop an agreed local action plan to sustain the improvements made since the first audit in 2003.'
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