Of all the crimes committed last year under the watch of Devon and Cornwall police, which covers the largest geographical area of any force in England, zero have featured in the official statistics. This is due to a failure in the transition to a new multi-million-pound computer system, a problem the force described as “not unusual.”
In its latest release on crime in the year ending December 2022, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) notes that
Data for Devon and Cornwall Police have not been included in this release because of issues with their data supply following the implementation of a new IT system in November 2022. From this date, and until the new system is fully integrated with ICT and working practices, the force will be unable to provide data.
The newspaper i reports that the new and costly operating system, from Canadian firm Niche Technology, is being used by 26 other police forces across England and Wales, but only Devon and Cornwall police bungled their records. The force’s website points to action having been taken towards personal robbery, retail crime, and assault in the closing months of last year, none of the figures for which can now be placed in the public domain.
A spokesman said that only data for the final quarter of 2022 had not been secured, but this resulted in none of the year’s figures featuring in the ONS report.
The news comes at a bad time for the force. A February 2023 report from His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary described its crime recording as “inadequate.” The document notes that “the force doesn’t always record crimes against vulnerable victims, particularly violent or behavioural crimes, and anti-social behaviour.” Readers of the report could surely be forgiven for assuming that even if Devon and Cornwall police had properly submitted its statistics, these would still be incomplete.
