Figure tweaking: a leaked memo reveals a Norfolk police force is pressuring officers not to classify incidents of smashed car windows as criminal damage if nothing is stolen
Posted on 05/05/2008 12:34:12 PM PDT by Stoat
Figure tweaking: a leaked memo reveals a Norfolk police force is pressuring officers not to classify incidents of smashed car windows as criminal damage if nothing is stolen
Rank-and-file bobbies have been told that incidents such as car vandalism should not be classed as an offence when there is 'no idea how it happened'.
The revelation has left forces facing accusations they are finding new ways to cut crime levels - by simply not recording offences at all.
And the disclosure that smashed car windows, broken wing mirrors and scratched paintwork could no longer count as a criminal offence if no-one witnesses the vandalism, sparked fury last night.
The fear is that because criminal damage accounts for one in five of all crimes recorded in England and Wales, it is an easy offence to target to give the impression that overall crime is falling.
Last night Tory Home Affairs spokesman James Brokenshire said forces around the country were being pressured into 'massaging' statistics as they struggled to meet centrally-set targets.
"There can't be anything worse than finding out you have been the victim of a crime and then are told it is not being recorded and dealt with," he said.
"What's driving this is absurd government targets which don't give police proper discretion and allow them to deal with crimes people want them to.
"As a result, police officers and police chiefs are forever trying to massage figures."
Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation, said: "Very rarely do car windows get damaged unless someone commits an act of criminal damage.
"Police officers are under tremendous pressure to demonstrate numerically that they are doing a good job, such as through the number of tickets they give out and the number of arrests that are made.
"I would scrap targets and go back to the drawing board. Crime statistics have become a science in their own right. They have never been a true reflection of crime."
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis added: "This is another example of Labour's diktat culture forcing the police to focus their efforts on the wrong priorities and meeting the government's bureaucratic targets."
Details of the policy emerged in a leaked Norfolk police memo which said that one of this year's targets was to "keep recorded crime down to 1500".
It added: "We appear to be making things difficult for ourselves by 'criming' things which aren't actually crimes.
"One example is where a car window is found to be damaged, no entry to vehicle, no witnesses and no idea how it happened.
"This has been recorded as criminal damage, even though there is no evidence to suggest it fits the definition.
"If there is no evidence of someone intending to destroy or be reckless then there is no crime.'
The memo, from an inspector, added: "Please ask yourself if there is evidence of a crime or if it is more appropriate to deal with it in a different way."
But one PC, who declined to be named, added: "It is simply impossible for a car window to be smashed on its own - yet somehow it is being suggested that these things happen spontaneously."
The whistleblower who released the document added police chiefs regularly discussed how to downgrade more serious offences.
"This is just a blatant example to cut crime by fiddling the stats. It's quite outrageous really," he said.
"What's worse is that if they are not going to record it, it's not going to show the true picture of what's going on in an area."
According to the British Crime Survey, the number of incidents of criminal damage in England and Wales in 2006 was around 2,731,000. More than half of these (1,697,000) were against vehicles. A total of 62,626 crimes were recorded in Norfolk in 2006 to 2007. Of these, 17,258 involved criminal damage - and fewer than half were investigated.
Senior Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb said: "There must not be any risk of criminal damage being downgraded and massaged out of crime figures.
"It is one of those offences that people are most distressed about. Along with anti-social behaviour it is the sort of thing that ruins communities.
"What is as disturbing is the pressure in meetings to reclassify other crimes.
Brian Paddick: There is less reporting of crime
"Any encouragement from a senior officer to downgrade these sorts of offences is completely unacceptable.'
The difference between crime figures in the British Crime Survey, in which 40,000 households are randomly surveyed, and offences recorded by police has helped fuel accusations that forces are tailoring statistics in their favour.
The row follows the extraordinary admission last month by former Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Brian Paddick that crime figures were 'not reliable'.
Mr Paddick, who stood as the Lib Dem candidate in the London mayoral election, raised the issue during an interview in which he pointed to rival Ken Livingstone use of Met Police figures to claim crime levels had dropped 17 per cent in four years.
"When you look at the British Crime Survey, it shows that in the past 12 months crime hasn't gone down. There is less confidence in the police and less reporting of crime," he said.
"It's because they come from an organisation that I was part of for 30 years that I can say with confidence they are not reliable."
Ministers have also been accused of helping to artifically lower recorded crime rates with a change in the law last year which meant victims of credit and debit card fraud would in future have to report the crime to their banks, rather than police.
The force yesterday denied any attempt to falsify crime figures and said it was trying to ensure incidents were accurately recorded.
A Norfolk Police spokeswoman said: "Our priority is to direct resources to impact upon the local issues that concern people.
"We won't properly do this unless we have the right information to start with."
The Association of British Insurers said claims for criminal damage would not be affected if police refused to issue crime numbers.
"What the police do when you have reported an incident of damage is up to them," he added. "The reality is police have limited resources and have to allocate them as they see fit."
Last night the Association of Chief Police Officers said all police forces were subject to external auditing procedures to ensure they "record crimes appropriately and in compliance with the rules".
A Home Office spokesman said: "The Government takes seriously the importance of having an accurate crime recording system in order to best protect the public."
Please say a prayer for the people of Great Britain
Seriously, all this would take in England, would be some simple gun control and that'll certainly make for a more civilized people and less criminal mischief. / sarcasm
THAT was a good movie..........And quite relevant to this story, too!...........
England already ignores the rape of its girls and women,
and their sale as slaves by Islamic savages.
So who cares about car windows?
Yeah, 'cause it sounds like they sure need it.
Nothing new here in the USA.
All big city police department managers by unwritten demands of the mayors have ordered their detectives to “kill crime”, stats by downgrading burglaries to vandalisms. This has been going on for as long as police departments have kept stats.
Also, many years ago auto burglaries were and have been reclassified to thefts from vehicles.
Hell Yeah, that’s one of my favorite movies! I actually owned a car over here for a whole 4 months (and it took me a while to learn how to drive on the “wrong side of the road”, Brits hate it when you say that) before it was A. broken into to have the CD player stolen and then a couple of days later B. stolen all together and wrecked just up the road...by a 15 yr-old snot who, after being freed from the wreckage by the “jaws of life”, bit the cops and ran off down the street! The cops were really embarrassed to tell me that...
I love how you begin every thread/post like that...And believe me, I DO pray for them and for us!:-)
Thank you so very much for your exceptionally kind and gracious words :-)
Best wishes to you and yours :-)
Sad, but true.
Our Filth (cops) have long been more concerned with stats and numbers than actual ‘policing’.
Bottom line, they cant be arsed. Forgive my tone, but its getting beyond a joke to be honest. Its going to get to the point where we take the law into your owns hands, form militias and start cleaning our streets.
The Pigs actually cautioned me (giving me a criminal record) for beating the crap out of a gang of 15-16 year olds who were doing over my family. Nice huh?!!!!!
When I was in the US, it was clear that your coppers weren’t to be messed with. A member of my family, working in the CT dept of the Met, said that the Force of today is nothing like what it was when he started. Its full of school drop outs who couldn’t make it in the military.
Sigh....ok, thats my rant over....
And....
Despite having the most comprehensive CCTV coverage in the Western World, and being caught on camera more than 300 times a day in the cities, CCTV is only used in about 3% of cases. So, what is its other use????
Spying on us, law abiding citizens of a country sinking up its own arse!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.