Gloucestershire Police wrongly cancelled crime reports

In a sample of 20 reports from July-December 2018, 10 were found to have been cancelled incorrectly. A crime can be cancelled when 'additional verifiable information determines that no notifiable crime occurred'.

Last year's crime data integrity inspection also found Gloucestershire Police wrongly cancelled two rapes in a sample of 16, seven sexual offences in a sample of 18 and two robberies in a sample of 10. Thirty-eight per cent of victims were not informed when their report was cancelled.

Chief Constable Rod Hansen commissioned a review after the Crime Data Integrity inspection report rated Gloucestershire Constabulary as inadequate.

A spokesperson for the force said: "Since the HMICFRS (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services) report last year we’ve been taking actions as part of an extensive plan to improve our crime recording processes and training.

“We have addressed the concerns raised relating to the cancellation of some crimes by restricting cancellation rights to a small number of specialist staff, with oversight by the Force Crime Registrar.

“We must stress that the cancellation of a crime can only happen when there is verifiable information a recordable crime has not happened. Cancellation of a crime does not mean the incident hasn’t been investigated – very often the cancellation of a crime takes place after an investigation has established no crime took place.

“In terms of the other issues identified in the report our internal audits indicate that compliance with the crime recording rules is now much higher, averaging over 90 per cent during 2020, and the increases we have seen in violence and sexual offences in the official crime statistics this year also reflect better crime recording.

“However we are not complacent and remain committed to ensuring all crime is recorded accurately and in a timely fashion.”