8.1 All forces return information for the councils within their force area (Tables 6, 7 and 8). The four cities (Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh and Aberdeen) have high crime rates reflecting, in part, the nature of a city, i.e. concentrated resident population, large numbers of commuters and tourists and a concentrated number of retail outlets, etc. In 1999, Glasgow City had the highest rate for non-sexual crimes of violence and crimes of indecency, Aberdeen City had the highest incidence of domestic housebreaking and Dundee City had the highest rate for cases of vandalism.
8.2 In addition to the four cities, there were three councils within Strathclyde police force area and one in Lothian & Borders police force area which had overall crime rates in excess of the rate for Scotland as a whole: West Dunbartonshire (1,011), Renfrewshire (923), Inverclyde (903) and West Lothian (869 per 10,000 population). The crime rates for individual council areas varied widely from 183 per 10,000 population in Eileanan Siar to 1,530 in Aberdeen City.
8.3 Chart 6 shows the number of recorded crimes of domestic housebreaking per 10,000 population by council area in 1999. These figures include houses, garages and garden sheds.
Chart 6 Number of crimes of domestic housebreaking recorded by the police
per 10,000 population in 1999
Rate per 10,000 population
chart 6