Crime conclusion

In reference to your article – "Crimebusters struggling in Scotland" (23 March) I'm sure everyone involved in policing across the country would be disappointed to read the negative slant your article took – particularly when closer inspection of the report showed that in many cases, Scotland is leading the way in tackling both crime and the fear of crime.

It is all too easy to look at one set of statistics and directly compare them with another. However, as in the case of this report, making such a comparison would only be fair if the two sets of statistics related to the same things and were collated in the same way. As the report acknowledges, in this instance this was not the case. The report asks us to use caution when comparing the figures between different countries. It is a shame that your article did not heed this cautionary note.

We do not judge ourselves solely on seeing recorded crime rates going up or down in every area – and nor should we. In some areas, we actually want to see recorded crime levels going up. We want to see more vulnerable people reporting the crimes committed against them, we want more victims of domestic abuse or hate crimes to come forward. A proactive approach to policing such as appropriate use of Stop and Search powers will mean we will see more recorded crimes of possession of weapons, but fewer incidents of the weapons being used. This would have an impact on the statistics.

We ask that statistics are not represented out of context for the purposes of a sensational story.

ASST CHIEF CONSTABLE GEORGE HAMILTON

ACPOS Crime Business Area

Strathclyde Police