Download ppt - Copyright 2010, The World Bank Group. All Rights Reserved. Police Statistics, Crime, Criminals and Resources Part 2 Crime, Justice & Security Statistics

Copyright 2010, The World Bank Group. All Rights Reserved.

Police Statistics, Crime, Criminals and Resources

Part 2

Crime, Justice & Security Statistics

Produced in Collaboration between World Bank Institute and the Development Data Group (DECDG)


Classifications

• Classifications are part of the statistical system• Examples can be found from other countries and from the UN and

are given in next slides• Police, Courts, Prosecution, Prisons, Probation all need to work to

the same classifications so statistics can be easily compared across the system

• Classifications are needed for offence type, geographical area, characteristics of people involved in crimes, age, tribe, foreigner status, gender: and for more detailed data if collected.

• Classifications need to be published and updated as laws and society changes


Offence classifications

• The classification of offences is the most important one• The UN has included an example of a classification scheme (see

next slide) to be used by each component of the justice system in its 11th Crime Trends Survey

• Details can be found at at http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/crime_survey_eleventh.html

• However, a new UN offence classification for at the international level will be published in 2011.

• It is good to be answer UN requests but local classifications should reflect local needs

• Countries need to have their own classification and keep to it


UN Crime classifications

• The 11th UN Crime Trends Survey asks for the following classification of offences

• Total recorded crime• Completed (ie successful homicide), Assault• Sexual Violence, Rape• Robbery, Theft, Motor vehicle Theft, Burglary• Drug Related crime• Kidnapping, Trafficking in persons, Trafficking in cultural artefacts


National Crime classifications

• Some countries are selective: some collect more detail• British Police collect a lot of detail on 50+ different types: see

http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/hosb1109vol2.pdf• The USA collects data on only a small number of types: • Violent crime, Murder, Forcible rape, Robbery, Aggravated assault,

Property crime, Burglary, Larceny-theft, Motor vehicle theft, and Arson.

• This is because the US has over 17,000 data collection points• South Africa has a system more like the British one with over 60

offence types recorded on a regular basis: see:• http://www.scribd.com/doc/26854489/SAPS-2009-Crime-Statistics-

Annual-Report


Demographics

• Follow CSO classifications for these statistics to ensure that comparisons can be made with non-justice data and rates and other indicators calculated

• Particular attention to age classifications is needed to be able to identify both victims and offenders who are children and may need special considerations

Details of crimes

• Monthly Information is needed for each police station

• The following detail on individual crimes could be collected:

• Time of day crime was committed

• Amount stolen or damage caused

• Details of victim (age, gender, race, employment)

• Has the crime been cleared up• Details of suspect (age, gender,

race, employment)

Other classifications


Similar information shouldalso be collected on policeActions such as:

• Criminals Arrested • Criminals charged• Criminals kept in custody • Fingerprints taken• DNA swobs taken• Telephones tapped • Surveillance activities• Drugs and property seized

and on Police sanctions such as:

• Warnings given to young criminals

• Cautions given to criminals • Cautions with a condition

applied• Fixed penalty fines given• Criminals referred to drug

treatment

Information on Criminals


Police investigation actions

Date Arrests Fingerprints taken

Surveillance Drugs/

property seized

June 1-7

June 8-14

June 15-21

June 22-28

Total June


Police resources

• As well as crime information on police resources, particularly manpower will be useful to see how efficient the police are

• It will also enable the UN to be answered as they always ask for the number of police working in a country and the number of police per 100,000 population

• Senior staff need to know how well police resources are spread throughout the country and how their country compares with neighbours

• Police numbers need only be collected once a year. An example is on the next slide

• Other forms could be devised on an annual basis, to record the amount of resources at each station: eg vehicles, computers, or other equipment


Police staff statistics

Name of Station/Office

……………….

Numbers recruited in year

Numbers left in year

Number in post at end of year

Constable

Sergeant

Inspector

Superintendent

Senior officers


What is the best method of sending data to HQ

• This will depend on local resources and reliability• Paper copies are useful if postal system is good.• Radio transmission is also useful if the relay stations tend to work

effectively• Computers links are best if there is a dedicated land line or all

computers have internet connection.• HQ must check routinely that the monthly returns or all the individual

returns have been sent.• Regular returns should arrive quickly, typically within 10 days of the

end of the period they refer to. • There needs to be a routine for sending in amendments to previous

returns.


Use of Information Technology

• Good IT equipment, including software and training in its use will make statistics very much easier to collect and analyse.

• However, statistics development should not wait on good technology• The principles of statistics collection, as described in this module

can be carried out with pre-IT technology, paper forms, telephones and Fax machines.

• Information technology should be introduced as resources become available and statistics be simply one aspect of their application, along with management and accountancy.


Introducing Good IT systems

• Modern PCs, with software such as WORD, EXCEL, Internet explorer and OUTLOOK are perfectly adequate for the vast majority of statistics that developing countries will need for the next decade.

• These PCs should be introduced, first at HQ, then in regional offices and finally at police stations.

• IT training for statistical officers should consist of basic understanding of EXCEL, ACCESS and WORD, rather than on complex packages such as SPSS or ORACLE

• The first priority should be to make sure that basic registers are recorded on EXCEL spreadsheets

• Then training is needed in the use of the Internet• Finally ACCESS could be used to devise new data collection

instruments that can feed directly into analysis packages.


Analysis of data

• Having collected a lot of data on crime, criminals and resources, it is important that this is analysed and made available routinely to senior officials and ministers and senior officers in the police and other justice agencies

• Monthly summaries of crime, arrests and other police actions should be produced routinely, together with a commentary highlighting the main points.

• Some summary data should also be returned to the stations so they can see how their local situation fits into the wider picture. This also improves the statistics.

• From time to time the recipients of statistics should be asked to confirm their usefulness and things that are missing


Examples of analysis

• Value can be added to statistics by calculating indicators: eg• Crime numbers can be related to population to get crime rates• Crime numbers can be related to police numbers to get a measure

of how efficient the police are in different parts of the country• Other social variable can be used: eg the Tanzanian CSO has

correlated crime data against social variable such as population, urban density, and poverty for all the regions of Tanzania.

• Finally crime data can be compared with courts and prisons data


Publication of material

• To encourage openness of discussion about the crime situation, some data should be published routinely, either in web sites or in books. There are many models:

• South Africa publishes quality data on crime numbers on their web site

• Tanzania publishes annual crime data for their parliament and the public in their local language KiSwahili

• Kenya and Mauritius publish summary crime and police data in CSO publications


• The UK publishes good regular statistics. Summary crime figure for 2008/9 mixing police crime figures and victim survey figures are found at http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/hosb0210.pdf

• An example of police manpower resources is found at http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/hosb0310.pdf

• Statistics on police powers are found at: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/hosb0610.pdf

• The South African Police Service (SAPS) publishes a good set of annual data

• Figures for 2008/9 are given on the SAPS web site at http://www.scribd.com/doc/26854489/SAPS-2009-Crime-Statistics-Annual-Report

• They are divided into contact crime, contact related crime, property crime, crime the police discover and ‘Other’ serious crime

Examples of Statistics Publication