From a BBC article
Police forces across England and Wales have been criticised for not recording hundreds of thousands of crimes reported to them each year.
Inspections of force databases have found offences, including violent and sexual ones, have not been counted towards official figures.
One force, Derbyshire,
was found to have not recorded about 30,300 crimes a year , more than a third of the total in its area.
What is the difference between reported and recorded crime?
When an offence is reported to police, officers may have investigated it fully but it only counts towards
Home Office figures if they "record" it as a crime.
Recording crime means the police can work out where, when and how often crime is happening as well as how to respond, what resources to put in and how to support victims.
Has under-recording affected crime statistics?
In 2014, a report by the
UK Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee said there was "strong evidence" of under-recording, which was exaggerating the rate of decrease in crime.
Police forces throughout England and Wales were found to have an "
utterly unacceptable" rate of accurately recording crime .
The then HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), now HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), estimated almost one-in-five crimes were not being recorded.
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