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22 October 2009
Statement from the Policing and Crime Minister David Hanson MP on Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary Crime Counts report.
David Hanson MP said, 'The government is committed to the integrity of crime statistics - the public and the government expect crime to be tackled and for that performance to be measurable.
'Today’s report (new window) shows the majority of forces are performing well when classifying violent crime, but there are some issues that give cause for concern, especially around the way the police handle incidents which are reported as crimes, but later downgraded to 'no crime'.
'Some cases where a decision was made not to record a crime are clearly unacceptable. We must better understand what is behind these errors to ensure victims get the right support. We will be consulting with police colleagues to see how we can ensure the good practice followed by most forces is applied universally.
'Careful consideration will be given to all the recommendations made by HMIC (new window) and the important issues the report raises and we will respond more fully before Christmas.
'The British Crime Survey (new window), which is not influenced by recording practices, shows overall crime is down by 36% since 1997 and the risk of becoming a victim of violent crime remains historically low.'
