Leaked Police Scotland memo reveals recording of knife crime 'obscured' extent of offences

KNIFE offences vanished from official figures, a secret Police Scotland memo reveals.

Bosses have now ordered a U-turn in the way crime is recorded – to ensure the public is given a more accurate picture.

In a leaked memo, one of Scotland’s most senior police officers said recording of knife crime “obscured” the “real extent of knife/weapon crime” in the country and ordered it be stopped.

It has led to accusations from campaigners and politicians that crime figures were being manipulated.

Critics are calling for answers as to who ordered the recording system, which gives a false impression as to how safe our streets really are.

According to the Scottish Government, crime is at a 42-year-low. Justice Secretary Michael Matheson recently welcomed the progress Police Scotland has made, praising their “excellent” work to slash crime rates.

But today’s Sunday Post revelations scotch those plaudits.

Police Scotland’s figures show there were 1720 instances of people caught carrying offensive weapons, including knives, in the first half of 2016-17.

But the force’s statistical experts have been omitting some knife crimes from figures presented to the Scottish Government in a policy known as subsuming crimes.

One police source said: “It means where there’s been a crime – for example, an assault where someone was carrying a knife – instead of the crime correctly being recorded as assault with possession of a knife, it would just be recorded as an assault.

“The knife aspect of the crime effectively ‘vanishes’, allowing the police to present a sanitised version of events to politicians and the public.

“But it’s not right. At best it’s manipulative, at worst it could be seen as cold lying to make it look like a better job is being done than is really the case.”

Last night, campaigner John Muir branded the revelation a “disgrace” and proof that knife crime statistics had become a “political football”.

This July will mark the 10th anniversary of his 34-year-old son Damian’s death in an unprovoked and frenzied attack in Greenock, Inverclyde.

Maniac Barry Gavin – who was later jailed for a minimum of 15 years for the attack – had been on bail after committing a string of other savage assaults.

John, who received an MBE in 2015 for his work to tackle knife crime, said: “It’s horrendous to see the figures being manipulated like this.

“Each statistic and record relates to a real person and a family potentially ruined by knives.

“We can’t fix the problem of knife crime unless we know the full extent of it. We need to know why this has been going on and for how long.”

Subsuming was designed to make reporting crime stats simple.

According to Police Scotland, it’s a term “used to record a number of criminal acts as one crime”.

In essence, it was meant to end a situation where various criminal acts committed by one offender could be mistaken for a mini-crimewave committed by various yobs.

An example would be if a criminal tries to steal your car and, on arrest, it is discovered he also has a knife.

While he might face knife and car offences in court, only the more serious charge would be recorded by police.

So the record of the knife crime would simply disappear.

It’s not known when the practice was first adopted but there are claims it has become more prevalent since the creation of Police Scotland.

Former Shadow Justice Secretary Graeme Pearson said he had spent years trying to get to the bottom of how common subsuming crime was. It was difficult to tell who was the driving force behind the policy, he said, labelling the “complex” practice “unnecessary and unhealthy”.

Mr Pearson said: “Police Scotland like to present low crime figures to the Scottish Police Authority, who then like to present the low figures to the Scottish Government.

“It in turn likes having a ‘headline’ figure to report to the public, saying crime has never been lower.

“But it’s not what the communities across Scotland say.”

As far back as 2012, the Scottish Police Federation was warning the government was “hiding” the true extent of Scotland’s crime rate.

But this is the first time authorities have admitted it was having a detrimental effect on the stats presented to the public.

The Sunday Post has tried to find out the extent of subsuming knife crime.

Our repeated requests, under Freedom of Information laws, were turned down.

Coincidentally, as we were asking questions about the issue, police chiefs quietly changed the rules.

The Scottish Crime Recording Board (SCRB), set up in 2015, met to discuss the discrepancies at a private meeting in March.

Details of what was discussed at St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh aren’t available to the public yet. But, just weeks later, Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham ordered staff to alter the way knife crime was recorded.

An April 12 memo said Police Scotland wanted the change because of a “crime-counting anomaly which somewhat obscured an enhanced level of analysis as to the real extent of knife/weapon crime.”

The memo states: “From 1 April 2017, where an offensive weapon or an article with a blade or point has been used in the commission of a crime, the possession of the knife/weapon or bladed article will no longer be subsumed into the substantive crime and should be the subject of an additional ‘possession’ crime.”

Callum Steele of the Scottish Police Federation said: “Police officers all over Scotland know instances of violence involving knives are a massive problem. It’s difficult to conclude anything other than the practice of subsuming many of these crimes distorted this reality for reasons that are impossible to fathom.”

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said compiling and publishing crime statistics was a matter for the SCRB.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “All recorded crimes and offences involving knives are counted and published by independent statisticians.

“The approach taken to recording these crimes has been in place for more than 20 years and is the same approach taken elsewhere in the UK.

“Knife crime has fallen significantly over the past decade, as indicated not only by recorded crime figures but by other sources including a 59% fall in emergency hospital admissions for assault with a knife since 2006-07.”

7% rise in thugs caught carrying lethal weapons

Recorded knife crime in Scotland is soaring – despite the official counting system hiding some offences.

There were 1720 incidents of people carrying offensive weapons, including knives, in the first half of 2016-17, more than seven per cent more than the 1604 in the same period of 2015-16.

Police Scotland figures show 627 people were caught carrying offensive weapons in the first two quarters of 2016-17, up from 594 in the same period the previous year.

But another 1093 were found handling a “bladed or pointed instrument”, up from 1010 in 2015-16, a rise of more than 8%.

Together the two categories led to a combined total for incidents of weapon carrying of 1720, up from 1604 the previous year – a rise of more than 7%.

Meanwhile almost two-thirds of thugs found with knives and other offensive weapons were spared prison in 2015, in favour of discredited Community Payback Orders or even fines.

An example came in a 2012 court case, after a knife-wielding teen broke into the Edinburgh home of Charles and Anne Murphy.

The then 15-year-old slashed Mr Murphy’s face and threatened to kill the couple.

But after social workers compiled a “positive” social work report on the youth, he was handed an 18-month Community Payback Order and 225 hours of community service.

Other research has shown that up to 90% of teenagers caught carrying knives and other weapons each year walk free without a conviction or criminal record.

True number of crimes may never be known