Scottish crime recording standard: crime recording and counting rules

Section 'F' - Transfer of Crime and Dealing with Crimes outside Police Scotland area

In circumstances where a crime is committed within the jurisdiction of another policing area, the receiving Division/Force will record an initial report e.g. incident. The details of the crime should then be forwarded to the relevant area. The victim, or person making the report, will be advised of the action being taken.

The area recording the crime record will forward the Crime Reference Number for cross-referencing with the original report, thus providing an audit trail. This area will be responsible for further contact with the victim or person making the original report.

Where there is a disagreement between policing areas, the area receiving the original report will refer the case to the local Crime Manager or Crime Registrar for review. The Crime Manager or Crime Registrar from the original area will review the circumstances and decide, in consultation with the other Crime Manager or Crime Registrar if the case is suitable for transfer. Whilst the question of ownership is being resolved that area has a duty to ensure that all necessary steps are taken in relation to victim care, preservation of evidence and meeting the immediate needs of the investigation.

In circumstances where a person resident outside Scotland contacts Police Scotland direct to report a crime believed to have been committed in Scotland, they should be directed to report the circumstances to their local Police in the first instance. In cases of fraud where the person is resident in England or Wales they should be directed to report the circumstances to Action Fraud.

Crime Transfer Standards

Where appropriate, crimes can be transferred from other UK Forces and vice versa under National Crime Recording Standard/Scottish Crime Recording Standard reciprocal agreements and where required assistance given in the investigation.

For all crimes with the exception of communication type crimes and Fraud the following minimum information standards should be adhered to when transferring a crime to another Force/Division or for acceptance of a transferred crime from another Force/Division:

• an approximate date/date range;
• an approximate locus sufficient to identify the area where the crime occurred; and
• a modus operandi sufficient to establish a crime type

It should be noted that "somewhere in Scotland/England" is not sufficient to identify an area.

Where a minimum standard of information has been provided sufficient to record a crime, a crime may be recorded without a detailed statement being provided.

For all crimes which involve use of the telephone or internet, the locus will be where the offending communication can be evidenced as having been received, and will only be updated to where the communication was sent from if a specific location can be evidenced. No crime will be transferred to another Force/Division until such times as the necessary evidence confirming jurisdiction is obtained. In the main this will involve the provision of Cycomms evidence by the initial enquiring Force/Division. It should be noted that the provision of an IP or E-mail address or the location of a telephone mast on their own may provide a line of enquiry, but without additional confirmation are insufficient to justify crime transfer. Only where a locus can be evidenced will a transfer be accepted. If a specific location is not provided the crime will be retained by the area where the communication was received. There is an expectation that Forces/Divisions will provide the necessary assistance to further any investigations.

Where the communication is confirmed as having been sent from a specific location elsewhere in the UK and the crime transfer is accepted by another Force the recorded crime may be updated to 'No Crime' on provision of a crime reference number. If the crime transfer is not accepted the crime will remain recorded where the communication was received.

Where the communication is confirmed as having been sent from outwith the UK, the crime must remain recorded with the locus being 'where received' and must not be updated to 'No Crime'.

Rules transferring crimes of Fraud are contained within the Fraud pages in Part 2 of this manual.

Crimes Committed against Victims in Scotland Where Suspect is Outside Scotland

In circumstances where a victim is in Scotland at the time a crime is committed and the suspect is determined to be outside Scotland a crime will be recorded and retained by Police Scotland unless the location is established as being elsewhere in the UK and ownership is accepted by another UK Force. If crime transfer is accepted by another UK Force and crime reference number provided the crime record may be updated to 'No Crime'. If crime transfer is not accepted the recorded crime will be retained by Police Scotland.

Example 1

While victim 'A' is in Scotland they are defrauded of money by means of bank transfer and a crime of Fraud is recorded. Enquiry determines a home address of suspect in Wales and Welsh Force accept the crime transfer.

The recorded Fraud should be updated to 'No Crime' and a 'No Crime – Other UK' marker applied to the crime record.

Example 2

While victim 'B' is in Scotland they are sent unwanted sexual images by a person they have befriended on social media and a crime of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act (SOSA) Section 6 is recorded. Enquiry determines the images were sent from an IP address which is based in Turkey.

The recorded SOSA Section 6 offence should be retained as a recorded crime by Police Scotland with the locus being where the images were received.

Example 3

While victim 'C' is in Scotland they are defrauded of money by means of bank transfer and a crime of Fraud is recorded. The suspect is believed to be somewhere in England but enquiry is unable to determine a locus sufficient to transfer the crime to another Force.

The recorded Fraud should be retained as a recorded crime by Police Scotland with the locus being the victim's home address.

Crimes Committed against Scottish Victims who are outside Scotland at the time of the Crime

Crimes committed against a Scottish based victim who is not in Scotland at the time of the crime should not be recorded. However, provisions within certain pieces of legislation such as Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 11, Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, Section 3 and Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, Section 55 allow for specific offences which occur outwith Scotland to be prosecuted in Scotland. In these circumstances any offences which are recorded for the purpose of reporting to the Procurator Fiscal should either be marked with an external locus or recorded with a local locus and later updated to 'No Crime'.

Example 1

While victim 'D' who has a home address in Scotland is on holiday in Spain they purchase property in Spain which they discover is part of a scam and does not exist. They report the matter to Police Scotland when they arrive home.

No crime should be recorded.

Example 2

While victim 'E' is on holiday in Spain they are assaulted by a person in their party. Both victim and suspect reside in Scotland. The matter is not reported to local police and is reported to Police Scotland when they arrive home.

No crime should be recorded. Under exceptional circumstances local Procurators Fiscal may decide to prosecute such cases in Scotland. If this is the case any crime recorded in order to report a case should be recorded with the locus in Spain.

Procedure for recording crimes committed in the Air or at Sea

Where a crime is reported on an aircraft in flight and it is not clear where the crime has occurred it will be recorded as follows:

• For Internal UK Flights - the area/Force covering the aircraft's departure location must record the crime. Crimes reported to third party areas/Forces will be recorded as an incident and referred for crime recording to the area/Force covering the airport of departure. A common sense approach should be adopted where crimes are committed aboard an aircraft in flight and the matter is dealt with by Police on arrival.

The following principles should be taken into account when a crime is reported aboard an aircraft in flight:

• British Aircraft - In terms of jurisdiction the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) can prosecute anything during the course of a flight (from when the doors close for take-off until they are opened on landing) in a British controlled aircraft as if it occurred in the UK.
• Foreign Aircraft Travelling To The UK – If it is a foreign aircraft travelling to the UK, i.e. UK is its next destination, COPFS can prosecute for offences if they would also constitute an offence in the country in which the aircraft is registered.
• Foreign Aircraft Travelling From The UK – If it is a foreign aircraft travelling from the UK to another country and the offence occurs in flight then it should be reported to the country of destination.

Note - the above rules also apply to crimes committed at sea. In these circumstances replace "aircraft" with "ship" and "airport" with "seaport".

Ministry of Defence

Crimes committed On Ministry of Defence property will be recorded by the Division for that area, unless the Division has agreed following a request by the Ministry of Defence Police to cede primacy of investigation, in which case the crime will be recorded by the Ministry of Defence Police.

British Transport Police

Details of any offence reported to the police that has been committed on railway premises that are within the jurisdiction of the British Transport Police (BTP), should be passed to the British Transport Police for recording in accordance with policy. The British Transport Police will be responsible for the annual reporting of offence statistics to the Home Office/Scottish Government in the format applicable to that Force. Similarly offences that are reported to British Transport Police and which have been committed outside of the normal Jurisdiction of that Force will be reported to the local policing area for adoption.

The principle rule to be taken into consideration when deciding to transfer a crime to or from British Transport Police should be the location of the victim or their property at the time of the crime. For example,

• A person stands on a roadway (owned by a local authority) and throws a missile at and damages a passenger train; the offence should be recorded by BTP.
• A person standing on a station platform property throws missiles at a private house and breaks a window; the offence should be recorded by the local policing area.
• Road Traffic offences committed on railway level crossings should be recorded by BTP.

In the case of a crime occurring in one police force area and finishing in another area the following crime recording practice should be followed.

• If it is an ongoing crime e.g. disorder which starts on the jurisdiction of BTP they will record the crime.
• If it starts in another police area that other force will record the crime.
• In circumstances where the disorder element of a crime is one that is subsumed the crime will be recorded where the recordable crime occurs e.g. victim is subjected to threatening or abusive behaviour in one area immediately before being assaulted in another, will be recorded where the assault takes place.

In the case of any dispute the police area first receiving the complaint will be responsible for the recording and investigation of the crime until the respective Crime Registrar can come to an agreement as to who will take primacy in the investigation in these cases the crime will then be retained or transferred as appropriate.

Where crimes committed in another area are detected by BTP officers, in the general course of their enquiries, they should normally be transferred to the local force for recording. Offenders will be reported to the Procurator Fiscal or other appropriate agency by means of a police report.

Obtaining Crime Reference Number or Transferring a Crime to BTP

To obtain a BTP crime reference number a copy of either the incident log or crime record (or in exceptional cases the victim's statement, providing it contains sufficient detail) should be sent to the British Transport Police Crime Recording Centre (CRC), who will input the report to the BTP Crime system.

The CRC will respond with the crime reference number by E-mail.