In 2018, a total of 78% of violent crimes and 89% of sexual offences reported to West Midlands Police force were recorded. It was therefore graded as ‘inadequate’ by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

However, the force has said they have made ‘substantial progress’.

An unrecorded crime refers to one which has been reported to police but is not then recorded as an offence, which can naturally lead to the potential crime not being investigated. In 2017, HMICFRS found that 5 out of 6 reported crimes were recorded by West Midlands Police force, leaving 38,000 crimes unrecorded.

Consequently, in 2018 it was reexamined just for violent crimes and sexual offences. Other crimes could not be examined due to a system update. It was found that of the 2,176 reports audited, 470 related to domestic abuse, of which 354 were recorded. The 116 unrecorded reports included offences such as common assault, ABH, harassment, and malicious communications.

According to the watchdog’s report, some crimes were not recorded as officers were ‘simply not believing’ victims. The report also found that ‘some incident logs contained closing comments that were completely different to the initial call and recorded no crime, without an adequate explanation.’

West Midlands Police has not improved its recording for reports of rape since 2017, when only 144 of 161 rape reports were recorded correctly, also according to the report. Kate Russell, spokesperson for Rape Crisis England & Wales, has said the findings are ‘seriously concerning’.

The Guardian notes how roughly 75% of police forces in England have been inspected, with two-thirds of those being rated as ‘inadequate’ or ‘requiring improvement’.

According to the HMICFRS, the estimated percentage of reports not being recorded by police was 22% in the West Midlands. It ranked below only North Yorkshire (25%), Lincolnshire (27%) and Thames Valley (31%), with the lowest percentage of reports not recorded found in Kent and Sussex (4%), followed by Cheshire (5%) and Northumbria (6%).

The watchdog has said these findings are unacceptable and that West Midlands Police is ‘failing victims, including victims of domestic abuse’, something which must be ‘urgently addressed’.

Victim Support, an independent charity, has said these reports have the potential to undermine public trust in the criminal justice system and could deter people from reporting incidents in future. It points out that when crimes are not recorded sufficiently, victims cannot access appropriate help and support.

Deputy Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Louisa Rolfe, says that the 2018 findings do not take into account all crimes, therefore the watchdog has not recognised its strengths in recording crime overall, for which it has ‘good, reliable crime accuracy’. She added that the force is confident that it has improved overall since 2017 and that it could not be criticised for failing to put more resources into its crime recording, so despite ‘substantial progress’ it is ‘disappointing’ to still be rated as inadequate.