Alarming truth behind ‘fall’ in crime figures: Shock at increase in unsolved sex attacks, drugs and violent offences

A GROWING number of sex crimes and violent offences have gone unsolved since the controversial creation of Police Scotland, new statistics reveal.

While official figures trumpet a 42-year crime low, a Sunday Post Freedom of Information inquiry has shown police have failed to catch an “extremely worrying” number of criminals for sex crimes, violent offences and drug dealing.

It comes after Audit Scotland revealed a £200m black hole in Police Scotland’s finances and comes just days after force chiefs revealed plans to cut officer numbers by 400.

Statistics show the unified force recorded a 40% increase in the number of sex crimes that went unsolved (2195 to 3073) between 2013 and 2016.

Among those, there was a 14% rise in the number of unsolved rape cases (497 to 568) in the same period.

Police Scotland deny the rises in some unsolved crime types are linked to pressure on resources, saying officer numbers have increased and some factors are beyond the force’s control.

But MSPs say the figures are “alarming and worrying”.

Scottish Conservative community safety spokesman Oliver Mundell said: “Everyone appreciates some crimes are easier to solve than others, but the disparity here is extremely worrying.”

Claire Baker, Scottish Labour’s justice spokeswoman, shares the view. She said: “It is alarming and worrying thousands of crimes go undetected each year.

“It is particularly concerning so many sexual crimes are not being picked up by the police.”

From 2013/14 to 2015/16, there was a 93% increase in unsolved drugs/weapon crimes, rising from 950 to 1842.

Unsolved possession of drugs crimes went from 155 to 769, a rise of 96%.

Unsolved crimes of bringing drugs into prisons rose 135 to 234 (73%), while unsolved drug dealing rose from 72 to 162 (125%), and unsolved instances of carrying knives rose by 40%, from 45 to 64.

Graeme Pearson, a former police officer and director general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and also an ex-Labour MSP, said more officers were needed to cope with a rise in reports of sex crimes.

He said: “The investigation of sex crimes is a complex and sensitive challenge.

“It requires a sufficiency of trained officers with time to properly deal with reports and backed up by effective IT systems to manage end-to-end reporting of cases to the Procurator Fiscal.

“It is unlikely the rise in the instances of unsolved cases over the years has been matched by a similar rise in allocated staff in the current realm of budget cuts and reorganisation.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said the volume of unsolved crime had remained relatively stable, adding: “The recorded crime statistics are an important barometer on the level of service that the public get from Police Scotland, but they are only part of the picture.

“On a daily basis, officers and staff provide help, advice and assistance on many different subjects, such as anti-social behaviour, missing persons and mental health issues.

“In addition, we are developing a better understanding of the demands on modern policing in relation to issues such as cybercrime and online child exploitation which will be a focus for us in the future.”

He added: “Limited meaning can be derived from these numbers alone which are monitored closely on a regular basis, and there can be multiple reasons why crimes remain unsolved, often beyond the control of the police.

“Police Scotland will continue to engage with the public to identify issues in local communities across Scotland that will direct and inform the shape of policing for the future.”

Last week Police Scotland outlined plans to cut officer numbers by 400 as part of its 10-year policing plan.

Chief Constable Phil Gormley said recruitment levels would begin to slow between 2018-20.