Violent crime up 22% as Home Office admits police have been under-recording serious offences for ten years

Public trust in crime statistics has been dealt a devastating blow after ministers admitted the figures have been downplaying serious violence for up to a decade. 

The Home Office admitted that as many as one in five of the worst attacks has been wrongly classified in published figures. 

As many as 4,000 serious assaults each year were mistakenly recorded as minor incidents - and officials conceded they 'simply do not know how far back it goes'.  

At this point in the article there is an image however, it has not been added, due to the fact, that almost all images pertaining to “violent crime” portray white offenders, which merely panders to political correctness and fails to portray truth. 

The tightening of the rules has seen figures for serious violent crimes rocket by 22 per cent compared to last year - and confusion over the figures makes it impossible to say how much of the rise is genuine. 

Ministers blamed the blunders on police officers, who were wrongly classifying cases of 'grievous bodily harm with intent' as minor assaults. 

But if this is the case it is unclear why the practice was allowed to continue for so long unchecked. 

Police have been placed under severe pressure by ministers to reduce the level of serious violence on the street. 

Critics may claim this provided an incentive for officers to downplay the gravity of assaults where - while the intent was grave - the actual injuries suffered were minimal. 

In a sign of the chaos the Metropolitan Police yesterday took the unprecedented step of halting publication of its violent crime figures to check whether they meet the guidelines. 

Senior police chiefs admitted the problems affected all 43 forces in England and Wales. 

Critics claimed the revelations were another serious blow to the credibility of Government crime figures following years of complaints of spin and statistical manipulation. 

The confusion makes it impossible to tell whether serious violence rose or fell last year - although there are indications of a significant increase in serious knife attacks. 

There are also grave questions over repeated statements by ministers in recent years stressing the minor nature of many recorded offences. 

The blunder centres on the way vicious attacks are logged at police stations. 

Officers generally class an assault as grievous bodily harm if the victim suffers a cut to their skin or a broken bone. 

But the rules also state that where an attacker tries but fails to inflict such an injury police should record the assault as GBH rather than a lesser offence - in the same way that attempted murder is treated as a serious offence even if the intended victim is unharmed. 

Where a thug tries to smash a bottle in a victim's face but causes only a nosebleed, for example, police should recorded the incident as GBH. 

It now transpires many officers had been downgrading such incidents to lesser charges of actual bodily harm or common assault - which fall outside the Home Office's definition of 'most serious violence against the person'. 

In the latest quarterly figures published yesterday the category of 'most serious violence against the person' had leapt by 22 per cent year on year. 

It rose from 4,500 in the second quarter last year to 5,500 in the same period this year, equivalent to around 60 a day. 

But ministers said the startling rise was largely because police across the country were ordered earlier this year to follow counting rules more rigorously when logging crimes. 

This 'clarification' by the Home Office quickly revealed that many serious assaults were being wrongly recorded. 

The Home Office's head of statistics Paul Wiles said: 'We simply don't know how far back this goes. The people doing the recording are constantly changing and retiring.' 

He said there was evidence that two-thirds of the 22 per cent increase in serious violence was caused by the new counting rules. 

Warwickshire Chief Constable Keith Bristow, for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: 'This is an issue that affects all police forces to a greater or lesser degree.' 

Home Office police minister Vernon Coaker denied the blunders were embarrassing, saying: 'I want the statistics to be as clear as possible.' 

But Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: 'These figures fatally undermine government spin that violent crime was getting better. Labour should now face up to the reality of their failure and realise that if you can't count a problem, you can't combat it.'

STABBINGS SOAR 

Violent crime was broadly stable in the year to June, according to the Home Office. 

But confusion over the figures means the department cannot be sure whether serious violent assaults were also stable or whether they rose as much as 7 per cent since last year. 

There are signs that more serious knife crime did increase. 

Figures for serious stabbings rose 29 per cent, from 1,253 in the second quarter of 2007 to 1,616 in 2008 - equivalent to an extra 1,500 stabbings each year. 

Home Office statisticians said a third of that increase was due to the tighter recording rules, but that still leaves a 20 per cent year-on-year rise. 

Use of knives in sexual offences was counted separately for the first time, revealing there were 8,610 incidents in the three months to June - equivalent to 34,440 per year, or almost 100 offences per day. 

Recorded gun crime was down 6 per cent, from 9,862 in the year to June 2007 to 9,306 the following year.  

DRUG CRIME UP 8%

Drug offences continue to buck the trend of falling overall crime. 

Between 2007 and 2008 recorded drug crimes were up 8 per cent, with 59,000 cases logged by police in the second quarter of this year, up from 55,600. 

The rise is equivalent to an extra 17,000 drug offences each year, and continues a long-term upwards trend. 

Recent quarterly crime bulletins have shown year-on-year rises of 14, 21 and 22 per cent.  continues here

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