West Midlands Police failing to record over 16,000 violent crimes per year, watchdog claims
ONE of England’s biggest police forces is failing to record more than 16,600 violent crimes each year, a watchdog has claimed.
West Midlands Police was graded “inadequate” for not recording 21.8 per cent of violent crimes and 10.8 per cent of sex offences between March and May 2018.
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary’s report said: “The recording rates remain a cause of concern.
Too often the force is still failing victims of crime.
“The recording rate is unacceptable and must be urgently addressed.”
An unrecorded crime is classed as one reported to police but not acted upon.
WMP was rated inadequate for recording crime in 2017 and re-examined for violent crime and sexual offences in 2018.
Of the 2,176 reports of crime audited by the inspectors, 470 related to domestic abuse.
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Of these, 354 were recorded.
The report said: “We found examples of attending officers letting down victims by simply not believing them.”
WMP Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe, claimed the watchdog failed to recognise the force’s strengths in recording crime overall.
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