Justice Analytical Services (JAS) Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: November 2022 edition

Community Safety

Summary statistics on community safety

Improved public perception of local crime rate since 2008-09.

The public feel safer in their local communities. The SCJS found that, in 2019-20, 73% of adults thought that the local crime rate had stayed the same or reduced in the past two years. This shows an improvement from 69% in 2008-09 and no change since 2018-19 (73%).

Most adults feel safe walking alone after dark.

The SCJS found that over three-quarters (77%) of adults said that they felt very or fairly safe walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark in 2019-20, unchanged from 2018-19 (78%) but an increase from 66% in 2008-09.

Most adults say police are doing a good or excellent job.

The SCJS reported that, in 2019-20, 55% of adults said that the police in their local area were doing a good or excellent job, unchanged from 2018-19 (56%) but down from 61% in 2012-13.

*New* Number of fires rose 10% in the last year.

In 2021-22, there were 27,771 fires in Scotland, up 10% on 2020-21 and the second highest number in the last decade. There were 40 fire fatalities in 2021-22, the third lowest in the last decade.

Sharp fall in emergency hospital admissions due to assault since 2011-12.

In 2020-21, there were 1,891 emergency hospital admissions due to assault, including 496 due to assault with a sharp object. These were, respectively, 57% and 47% lower than in 2011-12.

Further detail on fire statistics

There were 370 deliberate building fires in quarter 1 of 2022-23, up from 343 in the same quarter of 2021-22. Over the same period, the number of deliberate road vehicle fires fell from 213 to 185. There has been a long-term downward trend in deliberate building and deliberate road vehicle fires since this series began.

The figures used in this chart are the average of the quarter in question and the three quarters prior, in order to allow for seasonal variation.

Unwanted fire alarm signals (UFAS) describe avoidable false alarm signals from a workplace, either from an automatic fire alarm or from a person. There were 6,815 UFAS incidents in quarter 1 of 2022-23, which made up 27% of all incidents attended in that quarter. This was up from 22% of all incidents attended in the equivalent quarter of 2021-22. The Covid-19 pandemic could have influenced the previous year's figures as most offices were closed and homeworking was encouraged. This meant that less people were in workplace buildings and so there was less opportunity for an unwanted signal to be triggered.