Coronavirus (COVID-19): Justice Analytical Services data report - August 2020

Recorded Crime in Scotland

The recorded crime figures presented below exclude crimes recorded under the coronavirus legislation.

August 2020

The number of crimes recorded in 2020 remains below 2019 levels

The number of crimes recorded in August 2020 was 4% lower than in August 2019, while the number of offences was 1% higher than in August 2019.

Since last year, two crime and offence groups have seen a reduction while the two are at higher levels and one remains almost unchanged.

Other crimes were 4% higher (or 231 crimes). Driven by rises in Crimes against public justice (up 28%, or 483 crimes) and Handling offensive weapons crimes (up 23%, or 179 crimes).

Non-sexual crimes of violence were also higher (7%, or 53 crimes), due to a rise in Other Violence (up 30%, or 37 crimes) and Attempted murder and serious assault (up 16%, or 56 crimes).

April to August 2020

Since April 2020, crime has remained below 2019 levels

When looking across April to August 2020, the volume of crime recorded by the police may be returning to similar levels as seen in 2019.

Across this period 98,526 crimes were recorded. This was 7% lower than April to August last year (106,369 crimes recorded).

When comparing to previous months, crime in 2020 has remained fairly stable since May.

*The recorded crime figures presented here exclude crimes recorded under the new coronavirus legislation.

The biggest drivers of the reduction across April to August were Shoplifting, Other theft and Vandalism etc.

The Changes in levels of recorded fraud section in the latest bulletin provides further background on what may be contributing to this change.

The biggest drivers of the 7% reduction over April to August (by volumes) were:

↓ Shoplifting 39% (or 5,342 crimes)
↓ Other theft 20% (or 3,613 crimes)
↓ Vandalism etc.14% (or 2,636 crimes)

The biggest increases of this period were in:

↑ Crimes against public justice 34% (or 2,836 crimes)
↑ Fraud 59% (or 2,595 crimes)

Further Information:

The data in this section comes from the monthly Official Statistics on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, please see Recorded Crime in Scotland: August 2020.

Coronavirus legislation intervention activity

This information is drawn from Police Scotland's 'Coronavirus Interventions' application, which relies on manual input from Police Officers. Due to this manual input, this figures should be viewed as indicative only.

This system currently provides the broadest picture of the differing levels of co-operation experienced by Police across Scotland.

The use of interventions have risen since last month but remains lower than April to June levels

Total use of interventions is up by almost seven tenths (68%, or 1,284 interventions) since the previous month.

A large spike in interventions was seen on 25^th June, following a large scale disturbance in Kelvingrove Park.

COVID-19 Intervention Actvity in August

In August, almost all interventions made were dispersals. This remains consistent with previous months.

Of the remaining 3% of interventions:

• 58 were dispersed using reasonable force
• 17 were issued a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN)
• 7 were arrested

Further Information:

A full breakdown of interventions is available from Police Scotland:

https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/covid-19-police-scotland-response/enforcement-and-response-data/

Police Recorded Domestic Abuse Incidents

The number of Domestic Abuse incidents recorded in August 2020 was above the level seen in 2019.

These updates (including the proportion with a crime or offence) will be reflected in future editions of the Official Statistics on Domestic Abuse in Scotland. The next edition will cover the 2019-20 reporting year.

Looking cumulatively across April to August 2020, incidents were 8% higher than the equivalent period in 2019.

In August 2020:

5,762 Domestic incidents recorded ↑ Up 7% since last year (5,392 incidents)

In April to August 2020:

28,783 Domestic incidents recorded ↑ Up 8% since last year (26,602 incidents)

The proportion of April to August 2020 incidents that include the recording of at least one crime or offence was 43.2%. Police Scotland's Management Information Report suggests an equivalent figure of 43.9% for 2019-20.

In addition to the above, separate figures on crimes recorded under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 are available from the Recorded Crime in Scotland monthly Official Statistics. There were 640 such crimes recorded by the police in April to August 2020, compared to 709 during the equivalent period in 2019 (down 10%).

Police Recorded Domestic Abuse Incidents per 10,000 population

Across Scotland as a whole, the police recorded 53 domestic abuse incidents per 10,000 population during April to August 2020.

The local authorities with the highest rates were Dundee City (76), West Lothian (67) and Clackmannanshire (67).

Further Information:

The data in this section comes from the monthly Official Statistics on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, please see Recorded Crime in Scotland: August 2020.