nun_hunter
Well-Known Member
The police have always recorded crime to suit themselves. One example being sheds being broken into. When they need to provide evidence to get more resources to use for burglars, these were recorded as burglaries. When they then want to show how well they've done, they are recorded as thefts from a garden. Hey presto, look how good we did!
Thats the problem with setting targets and not just letting the police get on with it.
A number of of years ago in Brighton if you were drunk and disorderly in town on a weekend you got arrested and a ticket for D&D, non recordable and a simple fine. When they started to hound officers for detections to prove they were "solving crime" the same instances you'd now get arrested for Sec 5 Public Order Act. Witness statements would need to be obtained thus taking officers off the streets for longer but it meant the offence was now "recordable" and so could be detected. Stats then showed that Brighton was rife with violent crime when there has been no change at all!
its what happens when you let politics get into policing