Justice and safer communities statistics: monthly data report summary - October 2024

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 2021-22, 76% 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 73% in 2019-20.

Most adults feel safe walking alone after dark. The SCJS found that over three-quarters (76%) of adults said that they felt very or fairly safe walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark in 2021-22, unchanged from 2019-20 but an increase from 66% in 2008-09.

Just under half of adults say police are doing a good or excellent job. The SCJS reported that, in 2021-22, 49% of adults said that the police in their local area were doing a good or excellent job, down from 55% in 2019-20 and 61% in 2012-13.

Sharp fall in emergency hospital admissions due to assault since 2013-14. In 2022-23, there were 1,600 emergency hospital admissions due to assault, including 405 due to assault with a sharp object. These were, respectively, 48% and 31% lower than in 2013-14.

Number of fires fell 3% in the last year. In 2022-23, there were 26,825 fires in Scotland, down 3% on 2021-22 but 7% higher than in 2020-21. There were 42 fire fatalities in 2022-23, up from 40 in 2021-22 but similar to the number in most years across the last decade.

* New * Number of deliberate fires has decreased. There were 300 deliberate building fires in quarter 1 of 2024-25, down from 375 in the same quarter of 2023-24. Over the same period, the number of deliberate road vehicle fires fell from 182 to 170. There has been a long-term downward trend in deliberate building and deliberate road vehicle fires since this series began.

Note: 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.

* New * Unwanted fire alarm signals made up 16% of incidents in the first quarter of 2024-25. 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 2,943 UFAS incidents in quarter 1 of 2024-25, which made up 16% of all incidents attended in that quarter. This is down from the same quarter of 2023-24 when UFAS made up 27% of all incidents. This decrease is attributed to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s new policy regarding UFAS incidents, which outlines a change in how automatic fire alarm call outs are managed.