South Wales Police achieving ‘a good level of crime recording accuracy’
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published an assessment on the accuracy of crime recording in South Wales Police, which found that the force records around 90 percent of crimes reported to it.
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South Wales Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2017
HMICFRS previously inspected the accuracy of crime recording in South Wales Police in 2014.
To assess the extent that recorded crime information in South Wales Police can be trusted, HMICFRS 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 HMICFRS has judged South Wales Police as ‘good’.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams said:
“South Wales Police has made a concerted effort to improve its crime-recording practices since we last inspected in 2014. The force now achieves a good level of crime recording accuracy, which gives it a much better understanding of the threats to the public, and what resources it will need to tackle those threats.
“Although the force is judged as ‘good’, there is still room for some improvement for it to be judged as ‘outstanding’. At present we estimate that the force fails to properly record around 11,000 crimes each year. The force needs to ensure that staff and officers understand the crime-recording standards set of them, and that they are supervised properly.
“Due to the outstanding commitment demonstrated by the force’s leadership to getting this right, I am confident that it will improve even further. I will continue to monitor the progress the force makes.”
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South Wales Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2017
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 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 South Wales Police is performing can be found on the HMICFRS online assessment tool.
- For further information, HMICFRS’ press office can be contacted during office hours from 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday – Friday on 0203 513 0600.
- HMICFRS’ out-of-hours press office line for urgent media enquiries is 07836 217729.