« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
Annex A
PROGRESS AGAINST THE 2005 RECOMMENDATIONS
Meeting the Standard contained 14 recommendations aimed at enhancing the development of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard. We are pleased that progress has been made across Scotland in some areas, but note that more work requires to be done in others. In this section, each recommendation is reviewed in turn. Where a recommendation is considered discharged this is stated.
1. That force lead officers use this report to reaffirm their commitment to the SCRS and stress its importance to all staff in a manner which seeks to sustain its impact.
All forces clearly considered adherence to the Standard a routine aspect of their day-to-day business, and all ensured that development updates were broadcast to staff. The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland ( ACPOS) also maintained an interest in the Standard, having designated an Assistant Chief Constable as lead officer for SCRS, reporting to the Crime Business Area. We believe that the SCRS is now an accepted part of the Scottish policing landscape and are satisfied that this recommendation can be discharged.
2. That ACPOS, drawing on the experience of the Scottish Crime Registrars Group, engage with the Scottish Police College with a view to introducing a standardised approach to training, recognising the different needs of operational officers and support staff, probationers, first line managers, force crime registrars and their deputies.
We are concerned that this recommendation has not been satisfactorily concluded and therefore cannot be discharged. This issue is considered further in paragraphs 20-22 of the report.
3. That ACPOS consider the requirements of the SCRS in the light of prioritisation of IT development within the SPIS programme.
At the time of our inspection, IT development in the police service in Scotland was in a transitional phase. The Scottish Police Information Strategy had been subsumed within the Information Services function of the Scottish Police Services Authority ( SPSA). At the same time, four key national projects were coming to fruition: the development of a common command and control (incident recording) system; the introduction of personal digital assistants ( PDAs); a common performance management platform; and a national information management project. All of these projects will be SCRS-compliant and we are therefore satisfied that this recommendation can be discharged.
4. That the responsibilities of the force crime registrar ( FCR) be clearly separated from those relating to detections or managing volume crime.
All forces stated that they were compliant with this recommendation, although we noted that in one the FCR still provided occasional cover for crime management. Given that this force had procedures in place to avoid conflicts of interest, we believe that this recommendation can be considered as discharged.
5. That forces appoint a deputy crime registrar with sufficient authority to act in the absence of the FCR. The deputy should be trained to the same standard as the FCR and be able to make decisions on behalf of the force.
All forces had appointed a deputy crime registrar, though it appeared in some cases that the role was performed only in exceptional circumstances. While we are willing to discharge this recommendation we return to the issue of resilience and training in greater depth in the main body of this report.
6. That each force undertake to ensure that its FCR or deputy registrar attend every meeting of the Scottish Crime Registrars Group to achieve uniformity in the application of the SCRS at this critical time in its implementation.
We are satisfied that this recommendation can be discharged.
7. That forces carry out at a local level a dip-sample of incidents initially coded as a crime, but disposed of as non-crime, to confirm correct application of the Standard by way of a telephone-based customer survey.
To date, no force has initiated a customer survey, and only one force indicated that such a scheme would take place during this financial year. We cannot therefore discharge this recommendation.
8. That the Scottish Crime Registrars Group ( SCRG) formalise a standard auditing procedure and ensure its use in all Scottish forces in both a central and local audit. Sufficient training must be conducted for those carrying out the audit to ensure a Scotland-wide consistency in its application.
Standard auditing procedures were developed and published in the 2006 ACPOS document 'Audit Methodology for Reviewing the Quality of Crime Data Recorded by Scottish Police Forces'. Following criticisms by the SCRG of some aspects of the methodology, a comprehensive review was underway at the time of our inspection. We are prepared to discharge this recommendation, given the standardisation of auditing process achieved across the Scottish forces, but we return to the subject of transparency and consistency in audit in our current recommendations.
9. That forces identify a centrally-based supervisor at area command level to have responsibility for all 'no crime' decisions in the area. The 'no crime' decisions should be overseen by the FCR, who should maintain an overview of all decisions taken and act as final arbiter in areas of dispute.
While there were differences between forces in terms of the role of the supervisor making an initial 'no crime' decision, all had adopted the principle of the FCR or her/his deputy overseeing the process and being the final arbiter in areas of dispute. This recommendation has therefore been fully discharged.
10. That forces examine a sample of lost property reports at regular intervals to check that crimes are not being incorrectly recorded as lost property.
This area of audit was included in the 2006 ACPOS audit methodology and a number of forces regularly audit such records. However, in addition to difficulties with the auditing process itself, there were problems with the standard of the final reports in those forces that still used paper-based systems. It is nevertheless anticipated that the national information management project will provide a fully developed and fully auditable lost property function in due course. For this reason, we are content to discharge this particular recommendation.
11. That ACPOS engage with the Scottish Executive to assess the suitability of publishing a subcategory of unco-operative complainers in statistical returns in relation to Group 1 and 2 crimes.
Due to current differences in IT arrangements across the Scottish forces, this information could not be provided at the time of our inspection. We believe that collaborative national IT developments might eventually offer a solution to this problem. However, as this may be some time away, we are unable to discharge this recommendation at this time.
12. That ACPOS engage with the Scottish Executive and Crown Office in pursuing a clearer definition of serious assault to standardise the classification and recording of this crime within Scottish forces.
We are pleased to note that this recommendation has been fully discharged.
13. That ACPOS consider the introduction of a policy that makes provision for the non-investigation of crime based on the wishes of the complainer, balanced with public safety and public interest issues.
The weight of opinion of those we interviewed during our fieldwork was very much that a
non-investigation policy that took account of the wishes of the complainer should be developed. The ACPOS lead for the SCRS had forwarded the matter to the ACPOS sub-committee that deals with investigation policy. In the absence of visible progress, we are unwilling to discharge this recommendation at this time and discuss the issue at greater length at paragraphs 23-30, in the report, also making comment there about the unsuitability of the term 'non-investigation', albeit used by HMICS in 2005.
14. That ACPOS pursue with ACPO the introduction of a standard policy for recording and investigating airport crime with a view to extending such a policy across European states and beyond.
Though a standard national policy has been developed, attempts to extend it to the international arena have had little success. Given this situation, and the difficulties inherent in extending the policy across the EU member states and beyond, we are content to consider this recommendation discharged.
Therefore, of the fourteen recommendations in our 2005 thematic report, ten have been discharged. Of the remaining four, three recommendations, numbers 2, 7, and 13, are discussed at greater length in this report.
« Previous | Contents | Next »