Recorded crime in Scotland: 2016-2017

Statistics on crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the police in Scotland, split by crime or offence group and by local authority.

This document is part of a collection


7. Annexes

Annex 1: Data Sources and Definitions

Data collection:

7.1. The detailed classification of crimes and offences used by The Scottish Government to collect criminal statistics contains about 477 codes. These are grouped in the bulletin as shown in Chapter 8. Further information on crime codes can be found in the User Guide to Recorded Crime Statistics in Scotland, available via the following link:
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubRecordedCrime/UserGuide.

7.2. The statistical return from which most of the figures in this bulletin are taken is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences, for each local authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up. Returns of quarterly data are submitted by Police Scotland and are used to produce a national total.

7.3. Amendments to crime and offence records will always arise after data has been submitted by Police Scotland to the Scottish Government. Some crime or offence records may, on further investigation by the police, be re-designated to not constitute a crime or offence (a process known as 'no-criming'). In other cases the original crime or offence may be re-classified, which could shift the record between different crime or offence groups (for example if a common assault was found on further investigation to be a serious assault it would switch from Group 6 Miscellaneous Offences to Group 1 Non-sexual Crimes of Violence).

7.4. Following the implementation of the Scottish Operational Management Information System ( ScOMIS) in Police Scotland, each quarterly submission of data to the Scottish Government contains revisions back to quarter 1 of the 2013-14 reporting year, reflecting the amendments described above. To assess the extent of these amendments, we have compared the crime and offence data published for 2015-16 (which was submitted to the Scottish Government in April 2016) with what ScOMIS reported for the same period one year later (April 2017). Table 12 shows the results of this exercise.

As with our analysis in previous bulletins, this comparison confirms that the extent of further amendment to police crime and offence records following the original submission of data continues to be minimal at Scotland level. This gives users confidence that the published statistics for 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 still provide a sufficiently accurate measure of the extent of police recorded crimes and offences. On a proportional basis the biggest impact is on Group 5 Other Crime, where a net 625 fewer crimes have been recorded following no-criming and reclassification between crime groups . This has reduced the number of Other Crimes by 1.1% from 59,180 to 58,555.

Table 12: Revisions of crimes recorded by the police, Scotland, 2015-16

Percentage
Local authority area Non-sexual crimes of violence Sexual crimes Crimes of dishonesty Fire-raising, vandalism, etc. Other crimes Total crimes Miscellaneous offences
Aberdeen City 79.1 65.9 42.3 26.7 96.2 54.0 79.5
Aberdeenshire 86.3 67.9 43.8 23.1 94.5 54.2 74.8
Angus 72.7 65.5 40.6 36.9 93.3 53.0 81.3
Argyll & Bute 92.2 62.8 37.7 24.1 97.3 55.4 82.8
Clackmannanshire 88.3 55.1 51.3 26.7 95.0 55.4 76.8
Dumfries & Galloway 80.9 76.5 45.0 38.1 93.4 61.4 84.8
Dundee City 79.6 66.5 43.5 25.8 88.8 51.3 80.7
East Ayrshire 95.8 64.9 42.3 26.7 93.3 53.5 84.9
East Dunbartonshire 70.9 48.2 30.7 19.5 90.3 41.6 76.1
East Lothian 77.1 58.1 39.9 22.3 98.8 46.9 76.7
East Renfrewshire 83.6 63.2 28.2 13.5 91.7 42.0 67.9
Edinburgh, City of 65.8 50.7 25.8 16.9 95.7 35.4 63.0
Falkirk 86.8 61.6 46.5 33.1 98.7 57.6 78.0
Fife 85.4 69.0 48.2 35.4 97.9 57.5 85.7
Glasgow City 69.1 55.9 32.1 20.8 92.5 47.7 81.2
Highland 78.9 73.5 44.8 36.0 103.4 61.9 85.7
Inverclyde 71.3 69.0 38.4 14.8 90.9 51.9 83.4
Midlothian 83.7 57.3 37.1 19.7 97.1 45.7 79.5
Moray 86.0 55.7 47.5 36.1 98.5 59.4 78.4
Na h-Eileanan Siar 92.9 53.8 54.1 48.8 115.2 71.4 89.5
North Ayrshire 82.9 55.8 37.2 22.0 93.2 47.7 82.4
North Lanarkshire 79.4 52.9 33.5 23.8 96.9 48.5 83.9
Orkney Islands 100.0 61.3 53.7 52.1 115.8 67.0 85.6
Perth & Kinross 82.7 69.5 39.9 29.6 93.6 55.8 84.8
Renfrewshire 83.3 59.6 41.8 24.0 95.2 57.1 84.9
Scottish Borders 80.6 64.8 37.7 29.7 97.3 50.7 77.7
Shetland Islands 145.5 77.3 64.8 43.0 116.8 83.7 93.3
South Ayrshire 87.3 67.2 52.0 31.0 94.1 58.9 85.1
South Lanarkshire 73.0 61.6 34.8 20.8 97.6 48.9 84.3
Stirling 84.7 77.5 44.1 30.5 101.1 58.8 79.4
West Dunbartonshire 76.8 55.2 46.1 25.3 95.9 56.8 84.8
West Lothian 77.7 68.5 32.8 25.2 96.4 46.8 76.2
SCOTLAND 77.1 62.3 36.7 25.1 95.3 50.0 80.2

7.5. We will continue to repeat this exercise annually, as a quality assurance exercise, to confirm that further amendments remain minimal. Despite the fact that only a very small proportion of records are amended following their original submission to the Scottish Government, it is important for National Statistics purposes that time series comparisons between 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 are on a like-for-like basis. As such the 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 data used in this bulletin remains that which was submitted in April 2014, April 2015 and April 2016 respectively [17] , to ensure this is consistent with the timetable being followed for the submission of data for 2016-17 (i.e. the same amount of time has elapsed for amendments to records for the four reporting years based on ScOMIS).

7.6. This analysis demonstrates that a more up-to-date set of figures are available from ScOMIS for 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 than is included in this National Statistics publication. Given this, we asked the Scottish Crime Recording Board [18] to assess whether any amendment to our revisions policy should be made before the 2015-16 publication. In light of the minimal level of change following the original submission of data, the Board concluded in December 2015 that no changes were necessary to our revisions policy as our current approach was simple to understand and kept open the possibility of future publications coming out earlier in the year.

7.7. Information on the data source used in the Recorded Crime bulletin series and supporting metadata can be found in the Data Sources and Suitability document which is available via the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/DataSource/RecordedCrimeSandS.

7.8. The main Scottish Government Statement of Administrative Sources covers all sources of administrative data used by Scottish Government statisticians. This statement can be found on the Scottish Government website at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/About/StatementAdminSources.

7.9. A separate statement of administrative source is available for Police statistics via the following link:
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/AdminSources
Police
.

7.10. Information is collected from the British Transport Police and the Ministry of Defence Police, but these figures have not been included in the main body of this bulletin. Thus, the following crimes and offences were recorded in addition to those referred to throughout this bulletin:

Table 13: Crimes and offences recorded by the British Transport Police and the Ministry of Defence Police, and cleared up 13, as a percentage of those recorded, Scotland, 2016-17

Rate per 10,000 population
Local authority area Non-sexual crimes of violence Sexual crimes Crimes of dishonesty Fire-raising, vandalism, etc. Other crimes Total crimes Miscellaneous offences Motor vehicle offences Total offences Total crimes and offences
Aberdeen City 17 30 323 101 136 606 331 314 645 1,252
Aberdeenshire 8 17 110 52 56 243 140 208 347 591
Angus 9 20 122 77 58 286 215 334 549 835
Argyll & Bute 6 16 82 68 77 249 233 325 558 806
Clackmannanshire 12 17 150 127 98 403 287 244 530 933
Dumfries & Galloway 10 26 131 106 126 399 263 599 861 1,260
Dundee City 18 35 296 129 122 600 330 361 690 1,291
East Ayrshire 12 12 183 114 112 434 277 217 494 928
East Dunbartonshire 8 13 144 50 49 265 136 100 236 501
East Lothian 9 15 179 84 55 343 148 95 243 586
East Renfrewshire 6 11 100 60 53 230 126 99 225 454
Edinburgh, City of 15 19 357 112 79 583 256 174 429 1,012
Falkirk 12 19 154 89 84 358 253 289 542 900
Fife 12 24 164 90 72 363 252 237 489 852
Glasgow City 25 27 346 133 183 714 542 317 860 1,574
Highland 10 24 127 77 90 328 224 451 675 1,002
Inverclyde 12 20 161 114 149 457 252 271 523 980
Midlothian 11 18 262 133 99 522 234 143 377 899
Moray 9 23 101 70 69 271 228 310 538 810
Na h-Eileanan Siar 5 14 49 32 39 140 113 271 384 525
North Ayrshire 13 16 207 116 101 452 285 183 468 920
North Lanarkshire 12 14 218 119 120 482 304 189 493 975
Orkney Islands 5 14 55 43 26 144 127 189 316 460
Perth & Kinross 11 20 135 54 79 300 159 285 445 745
Renfrewshire 15 17 175 91 138 436 332 241 573 1,009
Scottish Borders 9 14 118 71 55 267 163 171 334 600
Shetland Islands 5 9 54 37 69 175 135 301 436 611
South Ayrshire 10 15 178 77 84 364 233 247 481 845
South Lanarkshire 11 12 182 97 99 401 269 163 432 833
Stirling 9 15 156 84 99 363 227 377 604 967
West Dunbartonshire 15 17 205 119 146 502 364 308 672 1,174
West Lothian 15 23 194 97 77 406 232 188 420 826
SCOTLAND 13 20 209 97 102 442 279 256 535 976

Please see Notes for Tables at end of Chapter 6.

In 2015 Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland ( HMICS) published Crime Audit, British Transport Police, Scotland Division. HM Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland, Derek Penman, said: "The results of our audit provide clear evidence that BTP's Scotland Division crime recording processes are effective, ensuring the correct application of crime recording standards and counting rules''. Further information on the Audit is available via the following link:
http://hmics.org/publications/crime-audit-british-transport-police-scotland-division.

Data publication in Police Scotland Quarterly Management Information Reports:

7.11. In addition to the National Statistics, Police Scotland publish management information on the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police. This is presented within their Quarterly Management Information Reports, which are available from the 'Our Performance' section of Police Scotland's website:
http://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/our-performance/.

These reports are produced to demonstrate Police Scotland's commitment to transparency (alongside other regular reporting activity to the Scottish Police Authority). The information within these reports is presented on a cumulative quarterly basis, with the first quarter of a reporting year containing 3 months of data (from April to June), the second containing 6 months of data (from April to September), etc.. The reports are typically published within 2 months of the period to which they refer.

The Quarterly Management Information Reports advise users that the data they contain on recorded crime is based on the Administrative Data available to Police Scotland at that time and not the National Statistics. The annual National Statistics published by the Scottish Government on police recorded crime are based on the same source of administrative information which has undergone further quality assurance work, including additional dialogue with Police Scotland, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Data Definitions:

7.12. In one criminal incident, several crimes or offences may occur - e.g. a house may be broken into and vandalized, and the occupants assaulted. In this example, crimes of housebreaking (which would include the vandalism) and assaults would be recorded. In multiple offence incidents, more than one offence may be counted rather than one for the incident as a whole; that is, the counting system is offence based rather than incident based. An offence may have more than one victim - for example in robberies - and be committed by more than one offender – e.g. some assaults and housebreakings (note that for murder, attempted murder and culpable homicide, the number of crimes recorded is equal to the number of victims). Thus the statistics in this bulletin are not directly comparable with statistics on action taken against offenders, as one offence may lead to several persons being charged. Equally, an offender may be charged with several offences.

7.13. In Scotland, assault is a common law offence. In order to distinguish between serious and common assaults, Police Scotland use a common definition for serious assault:

"An assault or attack in which the victim sustains injury resulting in detention in hospital as an inpatient, for the treatment of that injury, or any of the following injuries whether or not detained in hospital:

Fractures (the breaking or cracking of a bone. Note – nose is cartilage not bone, so a 'broken nose' should not be classified unless it meets one of the other criteria)

Internal injuries

Severe concussion

Lacerations requiring sutures which may lead to impairment or disfigurement

Any other injury which may lead to impairment or disfigurement."

7.14. Attempts to commit an offence are included in the statistics, in general in the same group as the substantive offence.

7.15. Housebreaking can be broken down into different building types: Dwelling, Non-dwelling and Other property. Where 'domestic dwelling' is presented in the statistics, this refers to dwellings and non‑dwellings only.

Dwelling is defined as a house which is being used for (or fit to be used for) residential purposes. Non-dwelling is defined as all roofed buildings used for domestic purposes other than dwellings (for example Garages, Garden Huts, Outhouses, etc.). Other property is defined as all roofed buildings not used for residential or domestic purposes (for example commercial premises). Further information on the different types of building included under each of these headings is available on page 258 of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard (the manual that details rules and guidance for how crimes should be recorded):
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubRecordedCrime/SCRB/SCRSmanual.

Contact

Email: Jamie Macfarlane, jamie.macfarlane@gov.scot

Phone: 0300 244 4000 – Central Enquiry Unit

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Back to top