NCJ Number
138930
Journal
Policing & Society Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: (June 1992) Pages: 293-306
Date Published
1992
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Police force clearup rates, published annually in Criminal Statistics for each police force in England and Wales, are not good indicators of police efficiency.
Abstract
Police forces vary in the extent to which they increase their clearup rate by interrogating prisoners and obtaining confessions. In addition, factors affecting clearup rates depend to some extent on public reporting of offenses to the police. Rates also depend on witnesses and offense types and partially on police vigilance and detective work. Primary clearup rates, based on cautions and prosecutions, may be a more consistent measure of police efficiency and may enable more meaningful comparisons between police forces. Rates based on offenders per 100 offenses recorded rather than suspects, however, clearly have an advantage. Until offense and offender data are linked, offender rates have an advantage over primary clearup rates in that they cannot be artificially inflated by cautioning and prosecuting more suspects. The author contends that overall clearup rates should not be published in Criminal Statistics and that high overall clearup rates should not be commended as performance indicators by which to judge policing services. Comparisons between police forces in the rates are invidious, and they may lead to inefficient and even possibly corrupt practices. 15 references and 4 tables