Recorded crime and police activity statistics consultation: summary of responses

Part Three: Police Activity Statistics

Introduction

Part Three of the consultation invited users to provide feedback on what other areas of policing in Scotland they would like to see the potential production of new statistics on, including how such data should be made available. For example, these may include the volume and type of incidents recorded by the police and information on incidents that involve a missing person.

Production of new Police Activity Statistics

Almost all who provided a response to this part of the consultation said that they would find the production of new Official Statistics on incidents recorded by Police Scotland of value.

There was interest in finding out more about what type of information could be produced in relation to incidents, and it was acknowledged that there would be a need to assess any limitations of this data.

In terms of subject areas, respondents showed interest for statistics to be made available on a range of non-criminal incidents dealt with by the police, especially those that have a public welfare or community safety dimension (e.g. youth-related incidents, missing persons, anti-social behaviour, incidents relating to mental ill health etc.).

More information is provided in the published responses on the consultation webpage.

Use of Police Activity Statistics

Responses to this part of the consultation reported various potential uses of Police Activity Statistics, if these were made available. These would range from:

• developing a better understanding of the local population
• identifying new patterns and trends to support policy analysis and future direction
• helping inform where the greater demand is for operational policing, allowing for informed allocation of resource and funding, as well as for comparative performance over time

Similarly, interest in these subject areas was also shown at the consultation events, with Police prevention activity and police contact with vulnerable individuals also noted as an important area.