Coronavirus (COVID-19): Justice Analytical Services data report- February 2021

Police Activity (Police Scotland)

101 and 999 call volumes

Total weekly 999 & 101 calls remain below 2019-20 levels

• Both 101 calls and 999 calls have remained relatively stable over the past four months.
• In the week ending 28th February there were 36,878 calls made.
• When combined, calls were lower than the previous week.

	21st February 2021	28th February 2021
101 calls	27,376	25,793
999 calls	9,864	11,085
Total calls	37,240	36,878

Incidents recorded

Weekly incident numbers remain below 2019-20 levels

Since March 2020, incident numbers have been trending below levels for the preceding year.

Scotland entered Phase 2 of its route map on 28th May 2020. There was an increase in incidents during that week (w/e Sunday 31st May). However, incident numbers remained below 2019-20 levels in the weeks that folllowed, and declined from November onwards. Scotland entered a new period of lockdown on 5th January 2021. Since then, incidents have remained comparatively low, although there is evidence of an increasing trend since mid-January.

In the week ending 28th February:

28,528 incidents recorded

Down 6% compared to an equivalent week in 2020 (30,263 incidents)

Further information:

A full breakdown of calls & incident volumes is available from:
https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/covid-19-police-scotlandresponse/enforcement-and-response-data/

Recorded Crime in Scotland

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

February 2021

The number of crimes recorded in 2020-21 continues to trend below 2019-20 levels.

The number of crimes reco rded in February 2021 was 16% lower than in February 2020, and the number of offences was 20% lower than in February 2020^[1].

Since last year, most crime and offence groups have seen a reduction while one group is at a higher level.

Other crimes were 4% higher (or 207 crimes). This increase was driven by rises in Crimes against public justice (up 15%, or 229 crimes).

The following chart shows a breakdown of the crime and offence groups, comparing February 2020 to 2021

April 2020 to February 2021

In February 2021, crime remained below levels for the preceding year.

When looking across April 2020 to February 2021*, 209,354 crimes were recorded. This was 7% lower than April 2019 to February 2020 (225,559 crimes recorded).

When comparing to previous months, crime since the start of the pandemic has generally remained below that of the preceding year, with the exception of November.

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

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

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

• Shoplifting: 34% (or 9,635 crimes)
• Other theft: 19% (or 7,377crimes)
• Vandalism etc.: 13% (or 5,238 crimes)

The biggest increases of this period were in:

• Fraud: 61% (or 6,107 crimes)
• Crimes against public justice: 30% (or 5,371 crimes)

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

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: February 2021.

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, these figures should be viewed as indicative only.

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

The use of interventions decreased in February 2021 and trends remain lower than April to June 2020 levels

Total use of interventions has decreased by 10% (or 891 interventions) since the previous month (it should be noted that February is a shorter month, however average daily interventions were slightly lower than January).

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

COVID-19 Intervention Activity in February 2021

In February, 63% of interventions made were dispersals. This is a lower percentage than in previous months, and part of a decreasing trend which peaked at 99% in June to August 2020. Conversely, the proportions of FPNs and arrests are increasing.

Of the remaining 37% of interventions:

• 47 were dispersed using reasonable force
• 2,744 were issued a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN)
• 118 were arrested

Further Information:

A full breakdown of interventions is available from Police Scotland: https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/covid-19-police-scotlandresponse/ enforcement-and-response-data/

Police Recorded Domestic Abuse Incidents

The number of Domestic Abuse incidents recorded in February 2021 was below the level seen in February 2020.

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 2020 to February 2021, incidents were 3% higher than the equivalent period the previous year.

In February 2021:

4,580 Domestic incidents recorded

Down 3% since last year (4,723 incidents)

In April 2020 to February 2021:

59,031 Domestic incidents recorded

Up 3% since equivalent period last year (57,121 incidents)

The proportion of April 2020 to February 2021 incidents that include the recording of at least one crime or offence was 39.7%. 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 1,419 such crimes recorded by the police in April 2020 to February 2021, compared to 1,580 during the equivalent period the preceding year (down 10%).

Police Recorded Domestic Abuse Incidents per 10,000 population

Across Scotland as a whole, the police recorded 108 domestic abuse incidents per 10,000 population during April 2020 to February 2021.

The local authorities with the highest rates were Dundee City (160), West Dunbartonshire (145), and Clackmannanshire (141).

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: February 2021