The Home Office collects data on the number of Notifiable Offences recorded by each of the 43 police force areas in England and Wales. The statistics provide a measure of the amount of crime with which the police are faced.
Broadly the offences include all indictable and triable either way offences, together with a few closely linked summary offences. Data on offences which are detected (or 'cleared up') are also collected.
Police forces return data quarterly, and data are published half-yearly.
Quarters ending March, June, September and December.
Timeliness:
Up to four months between date of offence and publication.
Year data first available:
1857
Year of latest available data:
October 1998 to September 1999
History of data collection / breaks and discontinuities:
Data collected since 1857.
On 1 April 1998 the Home Office issued new guidance rules, for classifying and counting notifiable offences, to the police. From that date the statistics wherever possible measure one crime per victim. Many of the more serious offences, such as violence against the person and sexual offences have always been counted in that way. However, the fraud, theft and criminal damage categories have not.
Main areas for which data is collected:
National: England Wales
SubNational or Other: Full
Extent of geographical coverage:
Full
Spatial units of data collection:
Police Force Area
Smallest spatial unit for which data are made available:
Police Force Area
Commonly available units for which aggregate data are made available:
Police Force Area
Standard geographical classification or coding systems used:
Police Force Area
Descriptive summary of geographical coverage and geographic referencing system:
Data collected from all 43 Police Force Areas in England and Wales
Home Office - Recorded Crime: 12 months to March 2000