Sussex Police judged to be ‘good’ at recording crime

26 Aug 2016 12:00 PM

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has yesterday published an assessment on the accuracy of crime recording in Sussex Police.

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Sussex Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2016

Sussex Police’s approach to crime recording is judged by HMIC to be ‘good’, following improvements since HMIC’s 2014 Crime Data Integrity inspection.

HMIC found that the force records nearly 95 percent of crimes reported to it.

HMIC also found that the force has:

• made good progress had been made in implementing the recommendations set out in HMIC’s 2014 report;
•  recorded all reports of rape that HMIC audited during this inspection; and
• decisions to cancel recorded crimes of rape, violence and other sexual offences were correct.

Despite these advances, the force still has progress to make to:

• further improve the accuracy of its recording of violent crime and sexual offences reports.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Zoë Billingham said:

“I am very pleased that Sussex Police has been graded as good in terms of the accuracy of their crime recording. The force has continued to make sound improvements following our 2014 inspection and we estimate that the force is now recording nearly 95 percent of all crimes reported to it accurately. We found strong leadership from senior officers with regard to crime-recording. We were also pleased to find that in every case involving rape that we looked at, the crime had been recorded properly.

“Although we have graded Sussex Police as good, there is still room for improvement. The force is still not recording a large number of crimes each year properly – approximately 5,300 crimes, including some serious crimes, such as violence and sexual offences. HMIC expects crimes to be recorded accurately and for victims to receive a good service from the police. If the crime is not recorded properly at the outset, then this will not happen.

“Although I will continue to monitor Sussex Police, I am very reassured by the good progress that the force has made in this vitally important aspect of policing.”

Get the report

Sussex Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2016

Notes to editors:

• 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.
• Further information on how Sussex is performing can be found on HMIC’s online assessment tool, atwww.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/peel-assessments/
• For further information, HMIC’s press office can be contacted during office hours from 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday – Friday on 0203 513 0600.
• HMIC’s out-of-hours press office line for urgent media enquiries is 07836 217 729.
  Follow HMIC on Twitter @HMICgov.