Justice Analytical Services (JAS) Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report : September 2023 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.
• 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 2012-13. In 2021-22, there were 1,819 emergency hospital admissions due to assault, including 399 due to assault with a sharp object. These were, respectively, 47% and 38% lower than in 2012-13.

Further detail on fire statistics

There were 233 deliberate building fires in quarter 4 of 2022-23, up from 224 in the same quarter of 2021-22. Over the same period, the number of deliberate road vehicle fires fell from 197 to 179. There has been a long-term downward trend in deliberate building and deliberate road vehicle fires since this series began.

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 7,403 UFAS incidents in quarter 4 of 2022-23, which made up 35% of all incidents attended in that quarter. This is up from the previous year where UFAS made up 32% of all incidents attended in that quarter.