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26 Jan 2012
Cheshire Police has welcomed an official report which rates the
force′s crime recording as "excellent".
Her Majesty′s Inspectorate of Constabulary looked at 120
incidents recorded by Cheshire Police and found all those which
involved crime had been accurately recorded as crimes and
appropriate action had been taken. None had been
incorrectly closed down.
The incidents included burglary, robbery, vehicle crime and
violence. Cheshire Police was the only one of 43 forces
to achieve one hundred per cent accuracy
in the records which were sampled.
Assistant Chief Constable Ruth Purdie said,
The initial recording of any crime is key to dealing with it.
This report indicates that officers and staff understand what is
required and have the skills and training to make the right
judgements. The test sample involved was only small but it is a
very good indicator that we are getting it right.
- ACC Ruth Purdie, Cheshire Constabulary
The H.M.I.C report said that the Cheshire Police performance was
achieved by "robust quality control" and the
Constabulary had established minimum standards for the way crimes
should be investigated. This ensured that staff maximise
opportunities to bring offenders to justice and follow best
practice. Contact with victims was generally good and was supported
by IT systems.
It added that Cheshire Police had a "strong and
proportionate" approach to auditing and quality assurance
of crime data. It did not audit data on "no crime" incidents to the
same standard and that needed attention.
Ruth Purdie said,
We are never complacent. Our recording system
is under continuing review and we are always looking for ways of
making improvements, however good our existing performance may
be.
- ACC Ruth Purdie, Cheshire Constabulary
Margaret Ollerenshaw, chairman of Cheshire Police Authority
said,
This report is very reassuring. We, and the
public, need to have confidence in the crime recording system.
When we talk about crime being reduced across Cheshire we need
to know those reductions are real and not based on some data error
or wrong assumptions.
This report indicates that Cheshire Police are logging
information accurately, recording it
properly and following through with the correct
action.
- Margaret Ollerenshaw, Chairman of the Police
Authority
