Police Scotland has published information detailing the number of crimes recorded between April and June 2016.
The provisional management data gives an indicative picture of crimes across the country at a point in time over the three month period. The information helps to inform operational decision making on a daily basis throughout the organisation.
It helps maintain our focus on keeping people safe by managing resources in the most effective way to police communities.
Management information is also published at a divisional level and for each local authority area across Scotland.
Deputy Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said: “Between April and June officers and staff dealt with over 430,100 incidents – an increase of more than 23,000 incidents than the corresponding three months in 2015. There continues to be a high level of calls for service made to Police Scotland.
“These range from domestic abuse to missing persons, anti-social behaviour and calls where alcohol play a factor.
“The overall picture remains a largely positive one. The management information highlights a slight fall in overall crime across our communities. The detection rate during this period also fell slightly, by less than one per cent when compared to the year before but remains above 51 per cent.
“I would stress that these figures offer a picture over a three month period only compared to the same period in 2015. Officers and staff throughout the country remain absolutely focused on responding to calls for service, robust investigation of crime and tracing those responsible.
“During the period being reported upon here, it’s worthy of note that there were some events which had a significant impact on the call for service from the public. A period in mid-June that coincided with a very good weather resulted in 12 days of extremely high demand. On each of these twelve days of summer we received levels of demand from the public above the level that we would normally record for Hogmanay, traditionally our busiest day of the year.
“The three month period also contained the day of the Scottish Cup Final which members will recall resulted in disorder on the pitch at the conclusion of the game, to date we have arrested and charged over 50 individuals for offences on this day.
“We remain committed to working towards positively impacting on levels of violence and sexual offending, adopting an approach which fully supports victims but targets offenders in the most effective way possible.
“A national violence reduction strategy has been brought into operation to support policing teams throughout Scotland address such offending. Notably almost half of sexual crime reported to us was non-recent or historical in nature.
“That can present investigative challenges but we remain absolutely committed to tackling this issue and encouraging victims to report to us.
“Reductions in acquisitive crime, including housebreaking and car crime, are welcome and again Police Scotland is committed to both prevention and detection.
“Recorded crime figures help tell part of the story of policing in Scotland. However, it doesn’t always reflect the many other significant demands on officers and staff and calls for service.
“People who come into contact with policing in Scotland report they have high levels of confidence in the service; the recent results from Your View Counts also provide a valuable source of information to help improve what we do and how we do it.
“The publication of management information provides a valuable snapshot of crime over a period of time. We continue to publish more detailed information about crime across Scotland than ever before, on a regular basis, so that it is available and accessible to everyone.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
