UK's poLICE fail to record quarter of reported sexual offences, says HMIC

More than a quarter of sex offences are not being recorded as crimes by police in England and Wales, a watchdog says.

UK's poLICE fail to record quarter of reported sexual offences, says HMIC _79091749_78281891

UK's poLICE fail to record quarter of reported sexual offences, says HMIC _79091749_78281891

An HM Inspectorate of Constabulary report said the failure to record crime properly was "indefensible".

More than 800,000 - or one in five - of all reported crimes went unrecorded each year, it said.

Home Secretary Theresa May described the findings as "utterly unacceptable", but police representatives said the situation had improved since the study.
'Serious concern'

The inspection, which looked at more than 8,000 reports of crime across all 43 police forces in England and Wales between November 2012 and October 2013, discovered 37 cases of rape that were not recorded as a crime.

Even when crimes were recorded correctly, many were subsequently removed or cancelled from the system as "no-crimes" because they were deemed not to have taken place, it said.

One in five of the 3,246 no-crime decisions were found to be incorrect - including more than 200 rapes and more than 250 violent crimes.

The report found that in more than a fifth of 3,700 cases, offenders were given out-of-court disposals such as a caution or a penalty notice when they should have been charged and sent to court or given a heavier penalty.

"The position in the case of rape and other sexual offences is a matter of especially serious concern," said Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor.

"It is particularly important that in cases as serious as rape, these shortcomings are put right as a matter of the greatest urgency. In some forces, action is already being taken in this respect."

He said the police should "immediately institutionalise" the presumption that the victim is to be believed.

"If evidence later comes to light which shows that no crime occurred, then the record should be corrected; that is how the system is supposed to work," he added.
'Lapses in leadership'

Police are obliged to inform victims about their decisions, but in more than 800 of the cases examined there was no record of the victim having been told.

Victims may have been under the impression that their crimes were being investigated when they were not, the report said.

It said relatively little firm evidence had been found of undue pressure being put on officers to manipulate figures.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30081682

UK's poLICE fail to record quarter of reported sexual offences, says HMIC

UK's poLICE fail to record quarter of reported sexual offences, says HMIC

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