Durham Constabulary’s crime recording has improved and is victim-focused
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published an assessment on the accuracy of crime recording in Durham Constabulary, which found that the constabulary records around 91.5 percent of crimes reported to it.
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Durham Constabulary: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2017
HMICFRS previously inspected the accuracy of crime recording in Durham Constabulary in 2014.
To assess the extent that recorded crime information in Durham Constabulary can be trusted, HMICFRS asked:
- How effective is the constabulary at recording reported crime?
- How efficiently do the systems and processes in the constabulary support accurate crime recording?
- How well does the constabulary demonstrate the leadership and culture necessary to meet the national standards for crime recording?
Based on these criteria, overall HMICFRS has judged Durham Constabulary as ‘good’.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said:
“We are pleased to report that Durham Constabulary has made concerted efforts to improve crime since our last inspection in 2014. Importantly, we found a commitment to ethical crime recording that is victim-focused and free from performance pressures of any kind.
“We were impressed by Durham Constabulary’s outstanding culture and leadership with regard to crime recording and they had a clear commitment to getting it right. Its staff and officers have improved their knowledge and understanding of the crime recording requirements for stalking, harassment and common assault. Durham Constabulary achieves high levels of recording accuracy for reported sexual offences. They have implemented all of the recommendations from our 2014 inspection and have made good progress.
“Despite these encouraging findings, we also identified some areas of improvement. They are still not recording a number of crimes each year – approximately 4,700 incidents. This includes online crime where young people share indecent images of themselves, public order crime and violent crime, including some from domestic abuse. This generally occurs when staff and officers do not recognise that an offence has been committed, or do not fully understand the need to record multiple offences disclosed during investigations. However, it is encouraging to see that Durham Constabulary has started making changes in these.
“In order to be confident that vulnerable victims always receive the support they need, reported crimes must be recorded correctly. We are pleased to see the improvement that Durham Constabulary has made in crime recording and we will continue to monitor its progress.”
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Durham Constabulary: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2017
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 are 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 Durham Constabulary is performing can be found on the HMICFRS online assessment tool.
- For further information, HMICFRS’ press office can be contacted during office hours from 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday – Friday on 0203 513 0600.
- HMICFRS’ out-of-hours press office line for urgent media enquiries is 07836 217729.