Coronavirus (COVID-19): Justice Analytical Services data report - January 2021
Eighth release of a monthly data report on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the justice system in Scotland, including information from Police Scotland, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, and Scottish Prison Service.
Police Activity
(Police Scotland)
101 and 999 call volumes
Total weekly 999 & 101 calls remain below 2020 levels
- Both 101 calls and 999 calls have remained relatively stable over the past four months.
- There may be evidence of a slight downward trend in 999 calls since August.
- In the week ending 31st January there were 36,302 calls made.
- When combined, calls were slightly higher than the previous week.
| (Week ending) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 24th January 2021 | 31st January 2021 | |
| 101 calls | 27,357 | 27,535 |
| 999 calls | 8,846 | 8,767 |
| Total calls | 36,203 | 36,302 |
Incidents recorded
Weekly incident numbers remain below 2020 levels
Since March 2020, incident numbers have been trending below levels for the preceding year.
Scotland entered Phase 2 of its route map on 28th May. There was an increase in incidents during that week (w/e Sunday 31st May). However, incident numbers remained below 2019 levels in the weeks that folllowed, and declined from November onwards. Scotland entered a new period of lockdown on 4th January 2021. Since then, incidents have remained comparatively low.
In the week ending 31st January:
- 26,762 incidents recorded
- Down 5% compared to an equivalent week in 2020 (28,105 incidents)
- Further information:
A full breakdown of calls & incident volumes is available from:
Recorded Crime in Scotland
The recorded crime figures presented below exclude crimes recorded under the coronavirus legislation.
January 2021
The number of crimes recorded in 2021 has returned to trending below 2020 levels.
The number of crimes reco rded in January 2021 was 12% lower than in January 2020, and the number of offences was 16% lower than in January 2020.
Since last year, most crime and offence groups have seen a reduction while one group is at a higher level.
Other crimes were 15% higher (or 704 crimes). This increase was driven by rises in Crimes against public justice (up 32%, or 494 crimes).
April 2020 to January 2021
In January 2021, crime remained below levels for the preceding year after seeing an increase in November.
When looking across April 2020 to January 2021*, 193,375 crimes were recorded. This was 6% lower than April 2019 to January 2020 (206,567 crimes recorded).
When comparing to previous months, crime since the start of the pandemic has generally remained below that of the preceding year, with the exception of November.
*The recorded crime figures presented here exclude crimes recorded under the new coronavirus legislation.
The biggest drivers of the reduction across April to January were Shoplifting, Other theft and Vandalism etc.
The biggest drivers of the 6% reduction over April to January (by volume) were:
- Shoplifting - Down 33% (or 8,429 crimes)
- Other theft - Down 19% (or 6,515 crimes)
- Vandalism etc. - Down 12% (or 4,613 crimes)
The biggest increases of this period were in:
- Fraud - Up 63% (or 5,614 crimes)
- Crimes against public justice - Up 32% (or 5,142 crimes)
The Changes in levels of recorded fraud section in the latest bulletin provides further background on what may be contributing to the above increase.
Further Information:
The data in this section comes from the monthly Official Statistics on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information, please see Recorded Crime in Scotland: January 2021.
Coronavirus legislation intervention activity
This information is drawn from Police Scotland’s ‘Coronavirus Interventions’ application, which relies on manual input from Police Officers. Due to this manual input, these figures should be viewed as indicative only.
This system currently provides the broadest picture of the differing levels of co-operation experienced by Police across Scotland.
The use of interventions increased in January but remains lower than April to June levels
Total use of interventions has increased by 43% (or 2,624 interventions) since the previous month.
A large spike in interventions was seen on 25th June, following a large scale disturbance in Kelvingrove Park.
COVID-19 Intervention Activity in January 2021
In January, 73% of interventions made were dispersals. This is a lower percentage than in previous months, which has ranged from 99% in July to August 2020 to 81% in November and December.
Of the remaining 28% of interventions:
- 47 were dispersed using reasonable force
- 2,226 were issued a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN)
- 115 were arrested
Further Information:
A full breakdown of interventions is available from Police Scotland:
Police Recorded Domestic Abuse Incidents
The number of Domestic Abuse incidents recorded in January 2021 was slightly above the level seen in 2020.
These updates (including the proportion with a crime or offence) will be reflected in future editions of the Official Statistics on Domestic Abuse in Scotland. The next edition will cover the 2019-20 reporting year.
Looking cumulatively across April 2020 to January 2021, incidents were 4% higher than the equivalent period the previous year.
In January 2021:
- 5,098 Domestic incidents recorded - Up 1% since last year (5,035 incidents)
In April 2020 to January 2021:
- 54,451 Domestic incidents recorded - Up 4% since equivalent period last year (52,398 incidents)
The proportion of April 2020 to January 2021 incidents that include the recording of at least one crime or offence was 39.4%. Police Scotland’s Management Information Report suggests an equivalent figure of 43.9% for 2019-20.
In addition to the above, separate figures on crimes recorded under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 are available from the Recorded Crime in Scotland monthly Official Statistics. There were 1,291 such crimes recorded by the police in April 2020 to January 2021, compared to 1,453 during the equivalent period the preceding year (down 11%).
Police Recorded Domestic Abuse Incidents per 10,000 population
Across Scotland as a whole, the police recorded 100 domestic abuse incidents per 10,000 population during April 2020 to January 2021.
The local authorities with the highest rates were Dundee City (148), West Dunbartonshire (133), and Clackmannanshire (130).
Further Information:
The data in this section comes from the monthly Official Statistics on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information, please see Recorded Crime in Scotland: January 2021
Contact
Email: Justice_Analysts@gov.scot
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