South Yorkshire Police makes improvements in crime recording, but still has work to do
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published an assessment on the accuracy of crime recording in South Yorkshire Police, which found that the force properly records around 89.5 percent of crimes reported to it.
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South Yorkshire Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2018
HMICFRS previously inspected the accuracy of crime recording in South Yorkshire Police in 2014. For this latest inspection, HMICFRS has judged South Yorkshire Police’s crime recording as ‘requires improvement’.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said:
“I am pleased with the improvements South Yorkshire Police has made since our last inspection. The force has implemented most of the recommendations we made in our 2014 report.
“As a result, we found areas of good crime recording practice during our inspection. The force takes a victim-focused approach to crime recording decisions and has made good progress against the national action plan. I was also reassured by the high level of accuracy in the recording of sexual offences.
“However, South Yorkshire Police still fails to record more than 17,000 crimes each year. We saw evidence that officers and staff simply did not understand the Home Office’s crime recording rules, particularly in cases involving domestic abuse and vulnerable victims.
“Early support can be crucial for victims of crime, and these delays are preventing victims accessing the support they need.
“I am aware that South Yorkshire Police has made immediate moves to resolve some of these issues since our inspection. I am recommending that they continue to improve training provision and supervision procedures to ensure we see an even more marked improvement in the future.”
Get the report
South Yorkshire Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2018
Notes to editors
- HMICFRS 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.
- On 19 July 2017 HMIC took on responsibility for fire & rescue service inspections and was renamed HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.
- HMICFRS inspects all 43 police forces in England and Wales together with other major policing and law enforcement bodies.
- HMICFRS is 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 South Yorkshire Police is performing can be found on the HMICFRS online assessment tool.
- For further information, HMICFRS’s press office can be contacted during office hours from 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday – Friday on 020 3513 0600.
- HMICFRS’s out-of-hours press office line for urgent media enquiries is 07836 217729.