Rape crime figure differences revealed
New figures show wide disparities in the way that police forces in England and Wales record allegations of rape.
Data supplied to BBC News shows the proportion of rapes dismissed by the police as “no crime” varies between 2% and 30%.
Overall, the number of reports of rape classed as “no crime” has decreased.
The figures given to the BBC come four years after a watchdog warned that recorded crime figures for rape were skewed.
In its report, the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate warned that some reports of rape were being wrongly classified by police forces. In turn, there was a danger that these mistakes inflated perceptions of false allegations.
At the time, police in England and Wales classified almost 16% of reports of rapes as “no crime”. That figure has now fallen to under 12% – but data supplied by the Association of Chief Police Officers shows that the average hides wide variations.
While Gloucestershire Police recorded 2.4% of rapes as “no crime”, the figure for Kent was 30%, three times the rate in 2009. Surrey Police’s “no crime” figure was over 20%.
‘Figures insulting’
In a statement, Kent Police said the jump in its statistics came after a recent review of open cases.
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