Improvement promised as 43,000 crimes going unrecorded

Three forces have promised to change after an inspection report found they failed to record nearly 43,000 crimes each year. Kent Police has “taken its eye off the ball” by allowing 24,300 crimes to slip under the radar each year, according to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). The total – more than one in six of all offences committed in the county – comes three years after HMIC gave its crime data integrity “a clean bill of health”. The force was joined by Cheshire Constabulary, which missed 11,600 crimes, in receiving an “inadequate” rating after inspectors found both were not recording some serious sexual and violent offences. Cambridgeshire Constabulary was the only force not given any immediate recommendations, but was still told to improve as it does not record around 7,000 crimes per year. HM Inspector of Constabulary Zoe Billingham said standards in Kent Police have “slipped significantly” since the first inspection in 2014. “The force has taken its eye off the ball as a result of poor supervision of crime-recording decisions and inconsistencies in its own auditing system that was giving it ‘false positive’ results,” she said. “In other words, the force thought it was still doing the right thing whereas in reality its crime recording standards were slipping and this was not being detected through its own checking mechanisms.” Kent Police had the lowest recording rate for violent crime of all three forces, with more than 20 per cent of these offences being missed. The force was the only one described as having “regressed” since 2014, although Cheshire Constabulary was criticised for only making limited progress against a national action plan. In 2013, Kent’s then police and crime commissioner _ commissioned HMIC to inspect its crime-recording processes. The review found the force was recording around 90 per cent of crimes correctly but highlighted several flaws, leading to the second review in 2014. By January, Kent Police was recording 96 per cent of crimes accurately and had significantly improved decision-making in relation to no-crime incidents. However, the 2017 report, published on Thursday (June 15), found the force has let standards slip and is now accurately recording less than 84 per cent of offences. According to HMIC, Kent Police often fails to make the right crime-recording decision at the first opportunity. Some rapes and other sexual offences – including domestic abuse – were being actively investigated, but had not been properly logged on systems. The force had missed 98 of the 446 domestic abuse-related offences and in ten cases had not considered victim safeguarding measures. Control rooms were also wrongly categorising incidents containing allegations of crime. These problems are compounded by reduced staffing levels and high turnover, leading to more inexperienced staff working in the investigation management unit. Officers and staff also did not properly understand crime-recording requirements – in some cases, staff were unsure of the rules regarding common assault where an attack was only threatened. Some parts of the force’s performance were praised – inspectors found officers and staff place victims at the forefront of crime-recording decisions and the force has “worked hard” to improve the use and scrutiny of out-of-court disposals. However, HMIC recommended that it immediately review the quality of its incident recording, particularly for rape offences. It also suggested more training be issued to help staff recognise how much information is required to make a crime-recording decision. Chief Constable Alan Pughsley said the report made for “disappointing reading”. He assured the public that all crimes that were not recorded have been reviewed, and that safeguarding measures have been put in place. Mr Pughsley said: “I would like to apologise to any victim who has not received the service they were entitled to. “However, on reviewing the recording decisions from this last year, it is appa