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Publication - Statistics

Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2025-26

Published
23 June 2026
From
Cabinet Secretary for Justice, +2 more … Chief Statistician, Director of Safer Communities
Directorate
Justice Directorate, +1 more … Safer Communities Directorate
Topic
Law and order

Statistics on crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the police in Scotland in 2025-26, split by crime or offence group and by local authority.

Part of

Supporting documents

Miscellaneous offences

Between 2024-25 and 2025-26, the number of Miscellaneous offences recorded by the police in Scotland decreased by 1% from 13,985 to 13,892. In the last 10 years, the number of Miscellaneous offences has increased by 16% from 11,972 in 2016-17 to 13,892 in 2025-26.

The national rate of recorded Miscellaneous offences was 25 offences per 10,000 population in 2025-26. This has remained unchanged from 2024-25, but increased from 22 in 2016-17.

In 2025-26, of all Miscellaneous offences:

  • Community and public order offences accounted for the majority (75%)
  • Wildlife offences accounted for 11%
  • Licensing offences accounted for 6%
  • Other miscellaneous offences accounted for 5%
  • Environmental offences accounted for 4%

Figure 23 below presents the offence categories within Miscellaneous offences over the latest 10 years and gives an indication of the trend and scale of each category.

Figure 23. The increase in recorded Community and public order offences has driven the increase in Miscellaneous offences since 2016-17.

Miscellaneous offences recorded by the police (000s), by category, Scotland, 2016-17 to 2025-26.

Four line charts in two rows of two that show the number of Miscellaneous offences in each of the five categories (Community and public order offences, Licensing offences, Environmental offences, Wildlife offences, and Other miscellaneous offences) from 2016-17 to 2025-26. The data show that Community and public order offences make up the majority of Miscellaneous offences and have increased by 34% since 2016-17.

Community and public order offences

Between 2024-25 and 2025-26, recorded Community and public order offences increased by 4% from 10,032 to 10,416 offences. There was a 34% increase over the 10 year period between 2016-17 and 2025-26, from 7,776 to 10,416 offences.

The Community and public order offences category includes a wide range of offences. The largest offence types are General post office/telecommunications offences (which account for the clear majority of the category, at 82%), Computer Misuse Act 1990 – unauthorised access only (7%), False calls to emergency services and bomb hoaxes (4%) and Public utilities (gas electricity etc) legislation (3%).

The increases in this category from 2024-25 and 2016-17 were driven by increases in General post office/telecommunications offences, which are up 4% (or 341 offences) from 2024-25 and up 37% (or 2,300 offences) from 2016-17 to 8,555 offences in 2025-26.

Contact

Email: Justice_Analysts@gov.scot

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