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RECORDED CRIME IN SCOTLAND, 2003
4. Recorded crime by police force - calendar year (Tables 4 and 5)
Total crime increased in four of the eight Scottish police forces, with Fife, Dumfries and Galloway, Central and Northern showing increases of 10 per cent, 7 per cent, 6 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. In all cases, the increases in the total number of crimes recorded largely reflected increases in the numbers of recorded crimes of vandalism, as police improved their recording of minor crimes of vandalism.
4.1 Central
The number of crimes recorded in the Central police force area increased by 1,107 (6 per cent) between 2002 and 2003 to total 19,389. This is entirely due to the increase of 1,167 (33 per cent) in the numbers of fire-raisings and vandalisms recorded. This increase reflects improvements in recording practice by Central police. In particular, the reporting of vandalism as "for information only" is no longer allowed and all such incidents must be recorded as crimes.
4.2 Dumfries & Galloway
Crimes recorded in the Dumfries & Galloway police force area increased overall by 749 (7 per cent) between 2002 and 2003 to total 10,747. A large part of this increase was due to an increase of 523 (18 per cent) in the number of fire-raisings and vandalisms recorded. As for Central police, this increase reflected improvements in recording minor crimes of vandalism.
Chart 4 Total number of crimes recorded per 10,000 population in 2003 by police force area
4.3 Fife
The number of crimes recorded in the Fife police force area increased by 2,749 (10 per cent) between 2002 and 2003 to total 31,586. Again, a major contribution to this increase was an increase of 1,672 (23 per cent) in the number of fire-raisings and vandalisms recorded, due to pro-active efforts by the police to encourage the reporting of such crimes and the use of an extensive public space CCTV system. The same factors led to an increase of 1,022 (6 per cent) in recorded crimes of dishonesty. The increase in these two crime groups account for almost all of the increase in recorded crime in Fife in 2003.
4.4 Grampian
The number of recorded crimes in the Grampian police force area decreased by 9 per cent between 2002 and 2003 to total 37,897 crimes. This decrease reflects decreases in crimes of dishonesty which fell by 16 per cent. A particular initiative, Operation Neighbourhood, which educates home owners about security, has successfully reduced the numbers of housebreakings.
4.5 Lothian & Borders
Recorded crime in the Lothian & Borders police force area decreased by 5 per cent (4,104) to total 78,032. This partially reflects a decrease of 2,273 (5 per cent) in crimes of dishonesty. Another area showing substantial decreases was drugs crimes, which fell by 1,186 (18 per cent) between 2002 and 2003.
4.6 Northern
The number of crimes recorded in the Northern police force area increased by 468 (3 per cent) between 2002 and 2003 to total 14,488. The largest contributor to this increase was the increase in the number of fire-raisings and vandalisms recorded, which rose by 402 (11 per cent) to total 4,088. As with the other police forces experiencing large increases in recorded vandalisms, this increase is attributable, at least in part, to more rigorous recording of minor acts of vandalism.
4.7 Strathclyde
The number of recorded crimes in the Strathclyde police force area decreased by 14,767 (7 per cent) between 2002 and 2003 to total 185,104. This reflects a decrease of 14,866 (14 per cent) in crimes of dishonesty. Strathclyde police have introduced a variety of initiatives, including Safer Scotland V, against all areas of acquisitive crime.
4.8 Tayside
The number of recorded crimes in the Tayside police force area decreased by 2,370 (7 per cent) in 2003 to total 29,736. This decrease is more than accounted for by a decrease of 3,826 (20 per cent) in crimes of dishonesty, reflecting sustained police efforts in reducing and detecting these crimes.
Chart 5 Number of crimes of domestic housebreaking recorded by the police per 10,000 population in 2003
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