Crime stats distorted says top Halton cop

Figures released next month by the Home Office are likely to show yet another increase in the level of recorded violent crime, in Cheshire and across the country.

And in Halton crime has lept by 30 per cent compared to this time last year.

But Halton Police's crime manager Det Chf Insp John Chapman, says it is important to understand what's really going on.

Two years ago, the Government introduced the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS), a new system of recording crime.

The NCRS not only added new categories of offence, it also meant the police now recorded minor incidents that would not previously have been added to the figures.

Det Chf Insp said: "If you look at the statistics, then yes, violent crime has increased in Halton. But you've got to look beyond the statistics."

He said shoves between friends were now recorded as violent incidents.

"An incident like that would still be investigated and a crime record would be created. Crime recording is now much more victim orientated," he said.

"I would be more concerned if there was more violence at the upper end of the scale, but minor pushes and shoves account for a lot of violent crime. As a former Det Sgt and now as a crime manager I would not say society is any more violent."

The British Crime Survey, which asks members of the public if they have had experience of crime, showed violent crime actually reduced by five per cent compared to the same quarter in 2003, yet police recorded figures indicated an 11 per cent increase.

And Det Chf Insp Chapman said the worst kinds of violent crime were very rare.

He added: "It is fair to say that the crime figures do represent a distorted picture of violent crime and in my experience the serious offences which really concern the public, such as murder and rape, really do equate to a small percentage of violent crime.

"People need to look beyond the raw data and the national media's portrayal of violence that can fuel people's fear of crime."