Metropolitan Police Service leadership’s ‘concerted effort’ to improve crime recording is working
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published an assessment on the accuracy of crime recording in the Metropolitan Police Service, which found that the force records around 90 percent of crimes reported to it.
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Metropolitan Police Service: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2018
HMICFRS previously inspected the accuracy of crime recording in the Metropolitan Police Service in 2014. For this latest inspection, HMICFRS has judged the Metropolitan Police Service’s crime recording as ‘good’.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said:
“I am pleased to report that the Metropolitan Police Service has made significant improvements to how it records crime since our last report. I commend the senior leadership for its concerted effort to prioritise accurate, victim-focused crime recording.
“Staff are now better equipped to make the right decision when a crime is first reported. When officers do make a mistake, there is appropriate supervision in place to correct them. As a result, our case audit found that almost nine in ten reported crimes were recorded. That is a good, although it still leaves room for improvement.
“We found evidence that low-level assaults and public order crime were underrecorded. Officers sometimes had difficulty identifying and recording multiple crimes in one incident, particularly in complex cases like domestic abuse.
“There is more the force could do to make sure that all victims, especially victims of serious and distressing crimes, get the support they deserve.
“That said, I am confident that the Metropolitan Police Service can and will impreove further. The senior leadership has a proven track record of implementing our recommendations and is deeply committed to improving the force’s service. I look forward to seeing its next steps.”
Get the report
Metropolitan Police Service: 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 the Metropolitan Police Service 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.