Cleveland Police failing to record over 3,000 violent crimes each year
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published an assessment on the accuracy of crime recording in Cleveland Police, which found that the force properly records around 83 percent of crimes reported to it.
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Cleveland Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2018
HMICFRS previously inspected the accuracy of crime recording in Cleveland Police in 2014. For this latest inspection, HMICFRS has judged Cleveland Police’s crime recording as ‘inadequate’.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said:
“While Cleveland Police has implemented many of the recommendations from our last inspection, I still have serious concerns about the force’s crime recording practices.
“We did see some good examples of crime recording practice in complex cases involving modern slavery and sexual offences. But the force’s overall performance falls short of our expectation. It was particularly troubling to find that almost one in five violent crimes reported to Cleveland Police never makes it onto the books.
“By our estimate, that means over 3,100 violent crimes go unrecorded each year.
“When a crime isn’t recorded properly, victims might not receive the support services they need and, in some cases, an investigation may not begin.
“Failure to record a crime can also prevent proper safeguarding measures from being implemented. In Cleveland Police, we found that only around a quarter of domestic abuse victims received adequate safeguarding when a crime was not logged. This leaves them exposed to an unacceptable level of risk and, potentially, harm.
“There were some positives. Vulnerable victims and victims of rape were generally safeguarded well. Cancelled crimes were largely cancelled for legitimate reasons. And it has made good progress against the national action plan for crime statistics.
“That is why I am confident that the force has the right team in place to respond to our recommendations and make changes for the better.”
Get the report
Cleveland Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2018
Notes to editors
- HMICFRS is an independent inspectorate, inspecting policing to promote improvements in policing that make everyone safer, and assesses and reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces to tackle crime and terrorism, improve criminal justice and raise confidence.
- On 19 July 2017 HMIC took on responsibility for fire & rescue service inspections and was renamed HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.
- HMICFRS inspects all 43 police forces in England and Wales together with other major policing and law enforcement bodies.
- HMICFRS is unable to make direct comparisons with the 2014 inspection due to a change in the methodology used. In particular, the 2014 inspection was a dip-sample of records in each force which contributed to a statistically robust rate for crime-recording accuracy for England and Wales, whereas this inspection is working to a statistically robust standard within each force.
- Further information on how Cleveland Police is performing can be found on the HMICFRS online assessment tool.
- For further information, HMICFRS’s press office can be contacted during office hours from 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday – Friday on 020 3513 0600.
- HMICFRS’s out-of-hours press office line for urgent media enquiries is 07836 217729.