The aim of our audit was to assess the state, efficiency and effectiveness of crime recording by British Transport Police (BTP) in Scotland and the extent to which recording practice complies with the Scottish Crime Recording Standard and the Scottish Government’s Counting Rules.
The results of the audit will provide the public and key stakeholders with greater information on which to base their assessment of the accuracy of crime statistics and will highlight to BTP areas of good practice as well as areas for improvement.
The audit also seeks to address the need for a comprehensive, independent audit of crime data as highlighted by the UK Statistics Authority.
Crime recording practice in Scotland is governed by the Scottish Crime Recording Standard (SCRS) and the Scottish Government’s Counting Rules. These documents provide a framework for deciding when an incident should be recorded as a crime, what type of crime should be recorded and how many crimes should be counted. Crime recording should also be carried out in accordance with BTP’s values.
We tested the accuracy of crime recording through auditing incident and crime records from April 1 to September 30, 2014. We examined over 900 incidents and over 500 crimes which was a significantly higher number than in previous audits.
While HMICS has conducted several audits of crime recording since the introduction of the SCRS in 2004, auditing this number of records for a single BTP division allows us to report on statistically significant compliance rates. This was a quantitative rather than a qualitative study and this report focuses on the results of our audit.
We are grateful to the Audit and Compliance team from BTP for their assistance in facilitating our work.
Our role in relation to inspecting British Transport Police (BTP) in Scotland is outlined in the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003. Following an inspection we are required to report to the Secretary of State on the efficiency and effectiveness of the force.
BTP has responsibility for policing the tracks, stations, trains and all related infrastructure across England, Scotland and Wales. It has its headquarters in London and policing is delivered in three geographic divisions – one of which is Scotland, providing policing services on Scotland’s part of the national railway network. This division works under Scottish law and legislation while being supported by national specialist central departments providing the essential skills and expertise. Governance of the force is provided by the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA).
