Introduction

The statistical information relating to crimes and offences in this web site is recorded according to guidelines issued by the Scottish Executive Justice Department.

  • Each separate crime/offence is categorised under the national classifications and grouped together for ease of reference.
  • Several crimes and offences may be recorded at an incident, e.g., a house may be broken into and property stolen, the premises vandalised and the householder assaulted. Three separate crimes would be recorded in this case. The system is based on the number of actual crimes/offences rather than on the number of incidents.
  • A crime/offence may have more than one victim and may also involve more than one offender. A crime or offence is regarded as a being detected where there exists a sufficiency of evidence under Scots Law to justify consideration of criminal proceedings. Many offences, e.g., speeding or possessing drugs, have no victim and are detected and recorded as a result of police activity.

The statistics do not reflect the incidence of crimes/offences, as not all incidents are reported to the police.

The Scottish Crime Recording Standard

The Scottish Crime Recording Standard (SCRS) was introduced throughout all Scottish Police Forces on 1 April 2004, the main aim of which was to provide an ethical, victim orientated approach that serves the needs of communities and ensures uniformity in crime recording standards throughout Scotland. The principles of the Standard are that if there is supporting evidence that on the "balance of probability" a crime has occurred, then it will be recorded as such. In practice, if a victim perceives that a crime has been committed it will be recorded unless there is evidence to the contrary. A crime report will be recorded in all instances where the circumstances reported amount to a crime as defined by Scots Law and there is no credible evidence to the contrary.

The introduction of SCRS had a particular impact on the recording of vandalism, theft and breach of the peace.

Further detailed information about SCRS is available from ACPOS.