There is a very interesting, and worrying post over on the Tony Sharp's blog about apparent massaging of detection rate figures by managers in the Avon & Somerset Police Constabulary. Apparently, a local confidence trickster managed to obtain property by deception when he visited approximately 550 properties int he areas. He was subsequently caught by the Police and arrested awaiting whatever outcome faces him.
However, when it came to writing this down in the statistics, it was recorded as 542 separate detection, all for what was essentially one big con. This will no doubt make the performance indicators look good I guess. However, you have to wonder, if managers in a local force are doing it then how much more massaging of figures is going on?
7 comments:
What's even more worrying is that they are considering "Cautioning" him for committing over 500 crimes.
I actually left that bit out deliberately on the grounds that I refused to beleive it.
Speaking as a retired police officer I can assure you that this is the norm and that detection rates have been 'massaged' for decades.
A hundred and one little tricks are pulled by the Home Office and Police in this area.
I will remain anon.!!
Like when the last Tory government reclassified Common Assualt so it did not count as a violent crime. And yes, they did then herald a cut in violent crime when the enxt figures were released.
yep, wrong too. What's your point?
Essex police do this, and I'm pretty sure many other forces do this Dizzy. It's the usual way of policing the figures. It's not odd at all. Each crime is in isolation on the books.
I wonder how many TICs (Taken Into Consideration) he coughed to as well.
It makes a certain amount of sense to me, as it's crimes solved that I am primarily interested in, rather than number of people arrested. 'Crimes committed' seems a relatively sensible basic unit and, consequently, 'crimes solved' is also pretty sensible.
What is then done with those figures is another matter; the presentation of figures to the public is about as seedy an area of public life as there is.
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