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Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has today published an assessment on the accuracy of crime recording in Merseyside Police, which found that the force records only around 84 percent of crimes reported to it.

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Merseyside Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2016

HMIC previously inspected the accuracy of crime recording in Merseyside Police in 2014.

To assess the extent that recorded crime information in Merseyside Police can be trusted, HMIC asked:

• How effective is the force at recording reported crime?
• How efficiently do the systems and processes in the force support accurate crime-recording?
• How well does the force demonstrate the leadership and culture necessary to meet the national standards for crime-recording?

Based on these criteria, overall HMIC has judged Merseyside Police as ‘inadequate’.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Mike Cunningham said:

“It is clear from our inspection that the crime recording processes within Merseyside Police are not fully effective, which prevents some crimes from being accurately recorded at the first opportunity.

“It was a cause of great concern that we found that even serious offences such as violent crime and sexual offences were not being recorded correctly. We also found examples of domestic abuse being under-recorded. However, in these cases we were pleased to find that despite not recording these crimes the safeguarding needs of the victim were being considered.

“The force needs to improve its understanding of the crime-recording standards expected of them, and ensure that these standards are supervised effectively. Lastly, the importance of robust auditing of its crime recording should not be overlooked, as this would improve standards across the force.

“Victims of crime deserve the best possible service at all stages of their interaction with their police force. I have made a number of recommendations – some of which are to be acted upon immediately – to help the force achieve greater accuracy in recording crimes to keep people safe. I will continue to monitor how the force progresses against these recommendations.”

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Merseyside Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2016

Notes to editors

1. HMIC 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. HMIC inspects all 43 police forces in England and Wales together with other major policing and law enforcement bodies. HMIC are 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.
2. Further information on how Merseyside Police is performing can be found on HMIC’s online assessment tool, at www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/peel-assessments/peel-2016/
3. For further information, HMIC’s press office can be contacted during office hours from 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday – Friday on 0203 513 0600.
4. HMIC’s out-of-hours press office line for urgent media enquiries is 07836 217 729.
5. Follow HMIC on Twitter @HMICgov.