CRIME/DISORDER/ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR DATA & GENERAL DATA FOR PROFILING & ANALYSIS

Source

Type of Data

What it will tell you

Points to note

Developmental issues

Police

• Crime incidents
• Offender information
• Victim Information
• Command & Control data on non crime incidents

• Time, location, type of offences reported to the police
• Known offenders by age, ethnicity, address
• Time, location, type of non-crime offences reported to the police (around 70% of calls)

• Levels of reporting vary by crime type
• Offenders often unknown
• Only covers calls to the police
• Crime/anti-social behaviour methods rarely documented

• Inconsistent reporting
• Repeat victimisation recording systems need to be developed
• Seasonal pattern systems need to be developed & used

Police Authority

• Public surveys

• Perceptions of safety and fear of crime

• Unlikely to be at detailed level

• Fear of crime & anti-social behaviour will need to be tracked

Local Authority Housing Department

• Housing voids
• Criminal damage costs
• Neighbourhood Complaints
• Vandalism records
• Racial/homophobic incidents
• Reasons for transfer applications
• Records of neighbour disputes/complaints
• Stock turnover
• Evictions, injunctions, relating to anti-social behaviour

• Costs of crime to social landlords.
• Likely to cover high crime neighbourhoods
• Local unease and experience of crime, disorder/anti-social behaviour & quality of life issues
• Location and nature of main anti-social behaviour problems
• Identify unpopular areas possibly entering spiral of decline
• Identify areas with lack of housing demand

• No data on costs of crime/ anti-social behaviour to private landlords & owner- occupiers
• Misses those who don't know it's worth complaining
• Incident logging systems often incomplete
• Hard to obtain information for properties where landlord pays bills but tenants move in and out
• Completeness of Electoral Register not always good

• Inconsistent capture of data
• Past inadequacies - need to increase confidence

Local Authority Social Services Department

• Information on vulnerable groups (e.g. elderly, people with disabilities, mentally ill, child protection)
• Children in care/leaving care
• Information on young offenders

• Where to find groups who may be victims of crime (e.g. the elderly, the mentally ill)
• Understanding of offender behaviour
• Complements police data

• Concentrates on the most vulnerable & offenders known to Social Services by age, gender, ethnicity, area where they live

• Data might not be easy to analyse

Local Education Authority

• Exclusions
• Truancy

• Schools where high percentage of pupils are out of school
• Risk factors for offending or being victimised
• Complements police data

• Need to establish nature of link between non-attendance anti-social behaviour/ disorder & crime locally
• schools can be sensitive about the release of exclusion data

• Patchy recording

Individual Schools

• Experience of discipline

• Local attitudes

• What the school is doing to help

• Involvement of young people in youth action groups is essential.

Local Authority Environmental Services

• Neighbour disputes
• Refuse collection problems
• Health and safety problems
• Grants for safety improvements

• Identify 'hot spots'
• Will complement police and housing data

• Only covers calls to council

• Inconsistent reporting, recording

Local Authority Highways and Street Lighting

• Location of traffic accidents
• Requests for lighting

• Safety 'hot spots'
• Simple indicator of where fear of crime is greatest

• Only partial picture

• Inconsistent reporting, recording
• May be difficult to collate

Local Authority 'Centre' (Chief Exec./Policy Unit)

• Census data analysis
• Needs analysis for external grants
• Records of crime/anti-social behaviour against staff

• Provides local context
• Allows links to be made to 'risk factors' for offending

• Some areas need to develop skills in re-aggregating data to match new boundaries

Local Authority Planning Department

• Planning maps
• Previous area-based work
• Forthcoming developments
• Work for SRB bids, etc
• Census data
• Land use, including dereliction, recreational and business

• Can help to display data
• Identifies any changes planned in the environment
• Comprehensive indicator of the make-up of an area down to small enumeration districts

• Some areas need to develop skills in re-aggregating data to match new boundaries

Probation

• Offender profiles (e.g. age, gender, employment status; substance misuse

• Perspective on criminal behaviour & its causes
• Insight into offender motivation
• Responses to intervention
• Locates known offenders

• Covers only known offenders

• Data unlikely to be easy to analyse

Health Authority

• A&E records of assault and domestic violence
• Victims of violence treated in primary care
• Mentally disordered offenders
• Information on substance misuse e.g. drugs & alcohol
• Behaviour Modification attendee numbers

• Likely to cover offences not reported to police
• Levels of substance abuse, age of users, types of drug, associated risk factors

• Sources and locations of injuries not always recorded
• Need to establish link between drugs and offending locally

• Data unlikely to be easy to analyse
• Some health authorities have problems getting trusts to collect or collate required data

District Health Authority

• Morbidity data

Drug Action Team

• Information on drug-taking/alcohol & substance misuse

• Should complement police and health substance misuse data

• Likely to have better understanding of links between drugs & anti-social behaviour/ crime

• Data unlikely to be easy to analyse

Fire Service

• Incidents of arson; hoax calls and suspicious fires

• Patterns of incidents e.g. time, location, type of incident reported
• Complements police data

• Some fires go unreported
• Little data on offenders

Community Relations Council

• Incidents of racial attacks and harassment

• Patterns of racial crime
• Complements police data

• Only partial reporting

• Data unlikely to be easy to analyse
• Not all victims report incidents to authorities

All public buildings (e.g. schools, hospitals, libraries and leisure facilities)

• Costs of criminal damage and vandalism

• Where major losses occur
• Where investment in prevention could save money

• Limited to public buildings

• Incomplete/inconsistent capture of this information

Chamber of Commerce

• Costs of criminal damage and vandalism to private companies

• Where major crime/anti-social behaviour losses occur
• Where investment in prevention could save money

• Limited to those who are members of the chamber of commerce

• Dependent on whether local chamber of commerce has done such work or is aware of work in companies

Chamber of Trade

• Costs of retail crime, damage and vandalism

• Where major crime/anti-social behaviour losses occur

• Limited to those who are members of the chamber of trade

• Dependent on whether local chamber of trade has done such work or is aware of work in companies

Profile of victims

Information may be difficult to analyse