Recorded Crime in Scotland: June 2021

Main findings

Crimes recorded by the police

In June 2021, the police recorded 18,946 crimes. This was 7% lower (or 1,494 crimes) than the 20,440 crimes recorded in the same month of 2020 (when pandemic restrictions were in place) and 10% lower than the 21,084 crimes recorded in the same month of 2019 (for which there was no pandemic or restrictions on movement). There were variations in the year-on-year trends between different crime types. However, with the exception of Sexual crimes and Other crimes, all groups were lower than pre-pandemic levels (June 2019) (Table 1, Chart 1).

In June 2021:

• Non-sexual crimes of violence were 9% higher compared to June 2020 (increasing from 722 to 786 crimes), but 8% lower compared to June 2019 (decreasing from 851 to 786 crimes). Within this, Attempted murder and serious assault increased by 19% compared to June 2020 (from 294 to 350), but decreased 20% from June 2019 (decreasing from 439 to 350 crimes). Other violence increased by 33% compared to June 2020 (from 139 to 185) and increased 53% from June 2019 (from 121 to 185). The increase in Other violence was mainly due to a rise in Threats and extortion, with the possibility that many of these crimes were cyber enabled. This possibility will be explored in more depth in the National Statistics which will be published in September. Crimes under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 decreased by 2% compared to June 2020 (from 123 to 120), and were 15% lower than in June 2019 (decreasing from 142 to 120).
• Sexual crimes were 3% higher (or 31 crimes), increasing from 1,184 to 1,215 crimes. This was 8% higher than in June 2019 (increasing from 1,123 to 1,215 crimes). Sexual assault saw the largest increase since June 2020, increasing by 22% (from 338 to 414). However, this was 3% lower than in June 2019. Other sexual crimes decreased by 13% compared to June 2020 (from 646 to 565). However this was a 16% increase compared to June 2019 (from 485 to 565). The rise in Other sexual crimes since 2019 was driven by crimes including Communicating indecently, Coercing a person into being present/looking at sexual activity and Voyeurism, with many of these crimes likely to be cyber enabled. Rape and attempted rape increased by 20% compared to June 2020, from 194 to 232 crimes, this was also a 13% increase compared to June 2019 (from 205 to 232 crimes).
• Crimes of dishonesty were 8% lower (or 630 crimes) compared to June 2020, decreasing from 8,184 to 7,554 crimes. This was 22% lower than in June 2019 (decreasing from 9,655 to 7,554). Crimes of Fraud have increased throughout the pandemic. However, there has been a 13% decrease since June 2020 (from 1,542 to 1,342), but still a 53% increase since June 2019 (from 880 to 1,342). The Changes in levels of recorded fraud section below provides users with further background on what may be contributing to this change. Housebreaking saw the largest decrease since June 2020, falling 19% (from 871 to 708 crimes), and is 36% lower than June 2019 (decreasing from 1,113 to 708 crimes).
• Fire-raising, vandalism etc. was 7% higher (or 236 crimes) compared to June 2020, increasing from 3,524 to 3,760 crimes. However this was still 3% lower than in June 2019. The increase since June 2020 was driven by crimes of Vandalism etc., which increased by 6% from 3,306 to 3,519 crimes. However this is still 4% lower than June 2019 levels.

• Other crimes were 18% lower (or 1,195 crimes) than in June 2020, decreasing from 6,826 to 5,631 crimes. However this was 1% higher than June 2019 (increasing from 5,588 to 5,631 crimes). The main contributors to these decreases were Drugs (which fell by 25% compared to June 2020 and 13% compared to June 2019) and Crimes against public justice (which fell by 12% compared to June 2020 but were 25% higher compared to June 2019).

Chart: each category shows columns from left to right for June 2019, 2020 and 2021

Offences recorded by the police

In June 2021, the police recorded 20,333 offences. This is 7% lower (down 1,559 offences) than the 21,892 offences recorded in the same month in 2020, and 6% lower than in June 2019 (decreasing from 21,645 to 20,333 offences). Miscellaneous offences decreased by 5% compared to June 2020, and were 1% lower than in June 2019. Motor vehicle offences decreased by 10% compared to June 2020, and were 12% lower than in June 2019, as detailed below (Table 2).

In June 2021:

• Miscellaneous offences decreased by 5%, from 11,881 to 11,321 offences, and were 1% lower than in June 2019 (decreasing from 11,454 to 11,321). The largest decrease since June 2020 was in Drunkenness and other disorderly conduct (which decreased by 46% from 889 to 483 offences), and were also 21% lower than in June 2019. Common assault increased by 15% compared to June 2020 (from 4,400 to 5,049 offences), but levels were unchanged from June 2019 (from 5,046 to 5,049 offences).
• Motor vehicle offences were 10% lower compared to June 2020 (or 999 offences), decreasing from 10,011 to 9,012 offences, and were 12% lower than June 2019 levels. The main contributor to the decrease since June 2020 was Unlawful use of vehicle offences (which decreased by 18%, from 3,301 to 2,708 offences), and this is 12% below June 2019 levels. Other motor vehicle offences saw the biggest increase compared to June 2020 (rising by 19%, from 1,494 to 1,778 offences), however this was 7% lower than June 2019 levels.

Local Authorities

Compared to June 2020, a decrease in recorded crime was seen in 22 (69%) out of 32 local authorities, with 10 showing an increase (Table 3). The largest decrease was seen in Orkney Islands (down 55%) and the largest increase was in Shetland Islands (up 45%). It should be noted that the relatively small number of crimes recorded in some of Scotland's local authorities can fluctuate over time - leading to large percentage changes. This is particularly relevant in this release, where monthly data is being presented rather than the annual information provided in the National Statistics.

The biggest contributors by volume to the overall decrease in crimes recorded by the police were North Lanarkshire (down 22%, or 377 crimes), Edinburgh City (down 9%, or 203 crimes) and Inverclyde (down 42%, or 154 crimes).

April 2019 to June 2019 and April 2020 to June 2020 compared with April 2021 to June 2021

Overall, in April 2021 to June 2021 the police recorded 57,669 crimes, a reduction of 1% (or 529 crimes) compared to the equivalent period of the previous year (58,198 crimes) (Table 4). This was 10% lower (or 6,131 crimes) than the same period in 2019 (63,800 crimes). The biggest drivers of the decrease by volume since 2020 were Drugs (down 15%, or 1,474 crimes) and Housebreaking (down 27%, or 765 crimes). When compared with 2019, the biggest drivers of the reduction in volume were Shoplifiting (down 35%, or 3,030 crimes), Housebreaking (down 37%, or 1,181 crimes) and Drugs (down 9%, or 889 crimes). The largest increase since 2020 by volume was Vandalism etc. (up 13%, or 1,169 crimes). Compared with 2019, the largest increase by volume was seen in Fraud (up 82%, or 2,067 crimes).

Over the same period, the number of offences recorded by the police was 5% higher (or 3,204 offences) than in 2020, with Miscellaneous offences holding steady (0% change) and Motor vehicle offences increasing by 12% (or 3,104 offences) (Table 5). Compared to 2019 offences decreased 6% (or 3,796 offences), with Miscellaneous offences falling 4% (1,263 offences) and Motor vehicle offences decreasing by 8% (or 2,533 offences).