MORE than half the police forces in England and Wales are failing to record crime statistics in line with official standards, according to a watchdog report published today.

In London, which accounts for 18 per cent of total offences, crime recording has deteriorated in the past year.

The poor performance by forces may mean that a misleading picture is given of the amount of actual crime taking place in the country, according to the Audit Commission report.

Latest annual figures showed there were 5.9 million offences recorded by the 43 police forces in 2003-04 but it is likely that the actual figure would be higher if police had met the standard.

Overall about one in ten of crime-related incidents is not recorded in line with national guidelines. The commission report admits that may result in misleading crime statistics.

Some police forces were not properly recording minor incidents correctly as crimes, meaning that some high-volume but low-level crimes, including antisocial behaviour, are not included in crime figures.

“Often, however, these are issues of antisocial behaviour and high-volume, low-level crimes that most frequently affect the lives of ordinary people and so have a strong impact on public perceptions about, and fear of crime,” the study, Crime Recording, said.

It added: “There are, however, some records that have been assessed as non-compliant because the incidents concerned have incorrectly not been recorded as crimes. These crimes would have been included in reported statistics had the correct procedures been followed.”

Zoe Billingham, director of crime and safety at the commission, said: “Our judgment is that official crime statistics are quite robust.”

But she admitted that the figures for violent crime which soared by 14 per cent to reach 955,000 are less reliable. “Crimes against the person, we would consider, are less robust overall than crimes which are easier to define and easier to categorise, such as vehicle crime and burglary.”

The Audit Commission revealed that only 17 of the 43 forces in England and Wales had successfully implemented the National Crime Recording Standard.

They examined the recording of crime, the recording of incidents which may not prove to be crimes and the removal from statistics of incidents found not to be crimes such as offences committed outside their force area.

Crime recording by the Metropolitan Police, the biggest force in England and Wales, had deteriorated in the period 2003-04. Under the Audit Commission’s “traffic light” rating system, the Met slipped to red from last year’s amber rating.

Three other forces, Cleveland, Cumbria and South Yorkshire, also received a red rating.

James Strachan, chairman of the Audit Commission, said: “More rapid progress is clearly needed, because 60 per cent have yet to achieve the national standards. We also think the Metropolitan Police needs to take this issue more seriously.” In all, three forces’ performance deteriorated and led to them slipping a category in the traffic light system — Cumbria, Gloucestershire and the Metropolitan Police.

A further eight forces showed some deterioration, but it was not bad enough for them to be reclassified.

Hazel Blears, the Police Minister, said: “It is important to remember that, where forces have been identified as needing to improve performance in this area (recording target crimes), this covers a broad mix of issues around data management processes as well as the speed and clarity of recording of individual crimes.”

“However, further work is needed, and the Police Standards Unit will continue to engage with the service to ensure that forces record all information in the clearest and most efficient way.”

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “These findings suggest that crime levels may be even higher than is now reported. Under Labour the police are tied up in more red tape and form-filling than ever. We would slash red tape so the police can be free to get on with their jobs and to record crime accurately.”

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