Crime figures being warped by recording petty disputes as crime – West Midlands Police chief

Police tape cordon restricting access to a crime scene with out of focus/blurred police officers walking in background

Recording petty disputes as crime is warping crime statistics and unnecessarily scaring the public, the West Midlands's most senior police chief has said. Sir David Thompson, chief constable of West Midlands Police, said petty disputes and incivility are being taken down as criminal acts following a Home Office edict that all complaints from the public must be included in official figures.

In an interview with The Times, Sir David described the process as “completely mad”, adding it was only serving to distort the public’s view. He said: “We are recording colossal amounts of stuff in this violence category that makes the public think violence is going through the roof. But their actual experience of violence is going down.For the following crime types, we've seen decreases compared to the pre-pandemic year:

Police in yet more 'that's not our job' claims..

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