The police service is continuing to work hard to improve how we record crime

National policing lead for crime statistics, Chief Constable Jeff Farrar said:

“Accurate crime data is not only essential in reassuring our communities, but it is also vital in ensuring that officers and staff are deployed to the right place at the right time.

“Nobody joins the police service with the intention of recording crime inaccurately but through a variety of reasons including lack of awareness and knowledge, pressure of work, system errors, use of professional discretion in the public interest as well as the possible pressure to achieve local performance targets can all be reasons for this.

“However this should be viewed in the context of the Office of National Statistics acknowledgment that police crime recording in England and Wales is widely recognised by international standards to be one of the best in the world.

“The police service supported by HMIC, the Home Office, the Office of National Statistics, the College of Policing and the Crime Statistics Advisory Committee continue to work hard to achieve greater accuracy and consistency in recorded crime.

“I am looking forward to explaining this in more detail to the Public Administration Committee on December 11th.”

Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) report analysis of variation in crime trends (January, 2013) acknowledged that “the system for recording crime in England and Wales by the police is widely recognised by international standards to be one of the best in the world”. The full document is available on the ONS' website: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/crime-statistics-methodology/methodological-note--analysis-of-variation-in-crime-trends.pdf

For more information please contact:

ACPO Press Office
Association of Chief Police Officers
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