Sue Jameson on unrecorded crimes
It's been revealed today by a police watchdog that up to a fifth of crimes could be going unreported. Amongst the most serious crimes not recorded were 14 rapes, and some offenders were issued with 'out of court' disposals when they should have been prosecuted.
Here's Good Morning Britain's Political Editor Sue Jameson with more.
All Home Secretaries love to see recorded crime figures coming down. It means people feel safer, there is trust in the system working and the figures can be used in response to tricky questions from the opposition!
So it must have pained Theresa May to say that the figures may well go up now that an investigation of all 43 police forces in England and Wales is showing " unacceptable" discrepancies. And that's putting it mildly.
Up to a fifth of crimes may have been going unrecorded ( reported but not recorded as an offence), and that statistic included 14 cases of rape. In some cases, police gave cautions or out of court punishments instead of prosecutions.
Home office minister Norman Baker told GMB that even though this means the figures will probably rise, overall 'real crime' is declining. Tom Winsor from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary told us that means there are many victims not getting justice, and that "police chiefs need information about where crime is taking place in order to make sound decisions about the efficient and effective deployment of resources". The police themselves blame the workload for some failings, as well as management failings and lack of training.
It will, however, be interesting to see what this massive review into the police concludes about the amount of paperwork officers have to deal with for every single incident they encounter. Though for years officers have complained little has changed and it may make the police more willing to tackle even the smallest complaint if they can do so quickly and efficiently.