Screened Out Crimes

  • Reference Number: 1668
  • Date released: 13 February 2009

Request

Can you tell me how many crimes were "screened out" by the force last year (i.e. not subject to further investigation) and what proportion of the total crimes reported to the force this amounted to. Can you also give me the equivalent information for the previous year?

Response

In accordance with section 1(1) (b) of the Act our response is provided below;

We are unable to produce figures for the period requested following a system change on the 7th of February 2007 (Omega to Atlas), as the recording methodology utilised by both of these systems is completely different, We cannot provide such figures post 7th February 2007. To do so would necessitate a manual examination of each crime report for last year, this it is estimated would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit is defined in the Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004, which is covered by statutory Instrument Number 3244 of 2004. Furthermore, section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows a public authority to refuse to respond to a request for information where the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit as defined by the above mentioned regulations.

Please note: We have previously supplied such figures for pre 2007 to another media organisation.

Previous Disclosure: "Screened Out Crimes"

Response 29th July 2008

In accordance with section 1(1) (b) of the Act our response is provided below;

2005 / 06

Reported Crime (held on Omega) Number of these crimes that were 'screened out' Of the crimes reported - % that were 'screened out'
77806 11965 15

2006 / 07

Reported Crime (held on Omega) Number of these crimes that were 'screened out' Of the crimes reported - % that were 'screened out'
77806 11965 15

2006 / 07 data is incomplete as anything from February 2007 onwards was recorded on Altas - similar data collation processes therefore cannot be applied to the data. Figures represent the period 1st April 2006 to 6th February 2007.

Crimes screened out and Home Office Code Description

2005 / 06 2006 / 07
Aggravated vehicle taking Abstracting electricity
Arson Aggravated burglary in a building other than a dwelling
Burglary in a building other than a dwelling Aggravated vehicle taking
Burglary in a dwelling Arson
Cheque and credit card fraud Burglary in a building other than a dwelling
Common assault Burglary in a dwelling
Criminal damage to a building other than a dwelling Cheque and credit card fraud
Criminal damage to a dwelling Common assault
Criminal damage to a vehicle Criminal damage to a building other than a dwelling
Forgery or use of false drug prescription Criminal damage to a dwelling
Handling stolen goods Criminal damage to a vehicle
Harassment Gross indecency with a child
Kidnapping Harassment
Other Criminal damage Other Criminal damage
Other forgery Other forgery
Other fraud Other fraud
Other miscellaneous sexual offences Other miscellaneous sexual offences
Other Offences against the State or public order Other Offences against the State or public order
Other theft or unauthorised taking Other theft or unauthorised taking
Other Wounding Other Wounding
Perverting the course of justice Possession of controlled drugs - cannabis (classification 92)
Possession of weapons Possession of controlled drugs excluding cannabis
Racially or Religiously aggravated Criminal damage to a dwelling Possession of weapons
Racially or Religiously aggravated Criminal damage to a vehicle Racially or Religiously aggravated Criminal damage to a dwelling
Racially or Religiously Aggravated Harassment Racially or Religiously Aggravated Harassment
Racially or Religiously Aggravated Other Wounding Racially or Religiously aggravated other Criminal damage
Robbery of business property Racially or Religiously Aggravated Other Wounding
Robbery of personal property Robbery of personal property
Sexual assault on a female aged 13 or over Sexual assault on a female aged 13 or over
Sexual assault on a female child under 13 Theft by an employee
Theft by an employee Theft from a shop
Theft from a shop Theft from a vehicle
Theft from a vehicle Theft from automatic machine or meter
Theft from automatic machine or meter Theft from the person
Theft from the person Theft in a dwelling other than from automatic machine/meter
Theft in a dwelling other than from automatic machine/meter Theft or unauthorised taking of a pedal cycle
Theft or unauthorised taking of a pedal cycle Theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle
Theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle Theft or unlawful taking of mail
Theft or unlawful taking of mail Threat or possession with intent to commit Criminal damage
Threat or conspiracy to murder Vehicle interference and tampering
Threat or possession with intent to commit Criminal damage Wounding or other act endangering life
Vehicle interference and tampering  
Wounding or other act endangering life  

Please Note: The following notes are from the researcher and explain difficulties with the data in particular we are unable to extract data from the current recording system relating to screened crimes for 2007/2008.

When reporting the below figures, the following needs to be made clear to the person who intends to use the data.

  1. When we recorded crime on Omega, inputters were instructed to select a flag called "NFE - Proc Complete" when a crime had been 'screened out'. As this flag was reliant on human data entry, the figures produced are therefore only as representative as the data held in the source system at the time the report was run, I cannot take account of the occasions when the flag failed to be selected when it perhaps should have been.
  2. The data provided needs to be placed into context. Whilst the "NFE - Proc Complete" flag was considered to representative of a screened out crime, this does not mean that no investigation was carried out prior to this judgement being made e.g. enquiries such as CCTV availability or the deployment of a CSI to a scene may have been made prior to the selection of this flag . . . this can be classed as investigation. The figures provided can therefore only ever be used as a guide, because I cannot tell you which crimes were screened out after initial assessment of the likelihood of someone being arrested as per the FOI request criteria.
  3. In the spreadsheet entitled "Crime Types Screened Out" I have reported all the crimes types which had an "NFE - Proc Complete" flag selected. The volumes involved for each crime type differed greatly however (e.g. from just 1 to 1720) and this should be taken account of when assessing the crimes included in the list.
  4. For 2006/07 I have only been able to provide data for the 1st of April 06 to the 6th of February 2007, due to our system change on the 7th of February 2007 (Omega to Atlas). As the recording methodology utilised by both of these systems is completely different, I cannot provide figures for the 7th of February to the 31st of March 2007 to complete the 06/07 financial year.
  5. A number of the crimes reported to Cheshire during the requested date periods were no crimed. I have not taken account of these in both the reported crime or screened out figures to ensure that an accurate figure has been represented. All screened out crimes (if they were not deemed to be no crimes - figure was less than 0.5% across each year) were recorded by the Force.

N.B. It is not possible to produce 07/08 data from ATLAS.

Back to Category List