Police Statistics, Crime, Criminals and Resources Part 1

1. Crime, Justice & Security Statistics Police Statistics, Crime, Criminals and Resources Part 1 Produced in Collaboration between World Bank Institute and the Development Data Group (DECDG)

2. Relation to other Modules • Police statistics do not stand on their own. They are closely related to other statistics on justice discussed in several other Modules, which should also be studied: • Module 1 (Governance) • Module 2 (Crime data collected in victim surveys which needs to be carefully compared with police crime statistics) • Module 4 ( Prosecution data) • Modules 5 and 6 ( Probation and Prisons data on offenders)

3. Police Statistics • Police are the gatekeepers of the justice system. • The public reports crime to them • Police investigate and collect evidence • They catch the criminal • They pass him on the next stages of the justice system • They reassure the community they are safe • So it is important that their statistics on crime and criminals are as complete as possible • It is also important to know the resources they invest in dealing with crime.

4. What is crime? • Personal crime involves bodily violence: These will usually be reported by the victim or his family • Theft involves stealing from persons or organisations: again the victim will report these to the police • Crime against governments (terrorism, corruption, trafficking): the victim is less clear and reporting to the police will be less straightforward • Fraud against financial institutions: Such institutions may decide to deal with such fraud themselves and not always report crimes to the police • Other crime involves offending against regulations: such crimes (traffic, licensing) are usually seen or discovered by police themselves • Actions that offend against a country’s moral codes: eg drug-taking: ‘victims’ of such crimes are unlikely to report, leaving it to police to discover the extent of such crimes

5. Crime and Police resources • It is a fact that the number of police and the resources they have influences the amount of crime recorded and the number of criminals caught • If there are many police who can be approached by the public crime will be reported more readily and more criminal caught • If police are not often seen in public, reporting will be lower and fewer criminals brought to justice • Many crimes are only discovered by the police such as crimes against government so that crime recorded will depend on priorities set by senior police chiefs to investigate particular types of crime

6. Decisions/actions for Police Statistics on Crime Police already keep extensive records of their dealings with the public and crime statistics should be a by-product of their existing registers. The following decisions need to be taken when setting up the crime statistics system: • What types of crime to collect data on? • Whether to collect a) summaries or b) records of individual crimes? • Which classifications to use? • What is the best method of sending data to HQ? Once decided upon it is important to lay down rules for Collecting and counting the statistics on crime.

7. By-product of existing procedures • Police action should be consistent throughout the country so statistics should be collected in the same way at each police station • Each stations has an incident register in which crimes and other reports are included. • Crime statistics should be based on this register: • This will enable checks to be made on completeness of the statistics: • It will also require no change in procedures before statistics can be collected. • Statistics should not wait on technology

8. Decision on what to collect • Crime statistics should reflect reality and not try to be all-embracing: no country collects statistics on every type of crime: every country restricts statistics to what is manageable: usually the more serious offences: • The following offences tend to be collected on a routine basis • Theft, serious assault, robbery, burglary, sex crimes, drugs, fraud, organised crime, serious motoring and drug offences • Many less serious other offences tend not to be collected on a routine basis at police level although they will be recorded at court level: • In later slides we will discuss the lists of offences that the UN requests from countries

9. Collecting crime data There are two ways to collect crime statistics: eg. • Monthly summaries of crimes of each type from each police station. These are then collated into national summaries ( eg UK Police) The next slide gives an example of such a monthly return. which can be on paper or use IT: eg returned by internet in EXCEL. • A short summary of each individual crime is collected from each police station (eg Kenya) Examples are given in later slides 3. Some countries use a mixture of methods: eg UK has a crime return for each homicide

10. Example of monthly summary return

11. Monthly summary return • British Police collect a lot of data on their monthly return from police forces. Other countries are more selective • As well as crime numbers other columns on the UK form ask for crimes cleared up and for changes to previous month’s figures: eg if an offence recorded as a homicide turns out after a post mortem to be accidental death. • This return can be sent to HQ by post, fax or, if the technology exists by an EXCEL spreadsheet • Central statisticians can then group the returns together to produce national and regional statistics for the month and put together with previous months’ data to show trends. • The most recent trends would then be made available to ministers, senior officers and other agencies.

12. Example of individual data form

13. Individual data form • This type of recording collects much more information about individual crimes • It is important to structure the information required onto a form so that each police station does the same thing • But more work is involved for the local police station in completing forms or entering data to a computer than a summary return. • Also software is needed that would translate this return into an EXCEL spreadsheet to assist analysis • However, this method produces better analyses than can be made than from summary returns • UK analyses homicide offences by weapon used:

14. Reason for Counting Rules • Counting rules ensure all stations do the same thing. • They set out definitions of Crime Types • They define how many offences to count in a complicated situation: eg Murder and Burglary together: • They advise whether to count on discovery or after investigation? • They show how to return the statistical forms? • They show what training is available and where queries can be answered • An example of counting rules (for the UK) is at: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/countrules.html

15. Using Counting Rules • Counting rules need to be revised from time to time • Each police station should have a copy and be trained to use them. • Political interference should be avoided. • Counting rules should be published for the public to see. • There should be a telephone help line to answer any queries about the counting rules