Police Failings "Utterly Unacceptable"

There are concerns about how police officers are recording crime.

It turns out 800,000 offences are slipping through the net every year in Wales and England.

Figures out today show Dyfed-Powys Police  is one of the worst forces for filing cases, with nearly a third of crimes in the region not logged.

However Gwent, South Wales and North Wales Police have been praised for their efforts.

Jeff Farrar’s Chief Constable at Gwent:

“ This is not about blaming anybody, but recognising that recording crime is important for informing the public, informing me on where to put resources, and also informing the Government on policy”.

The Home Secretary has said that failures are “utterly unnaceptable”, but Jeff Farrar claims there is a pressure to hit targets:

“Nobody joins the police service not to record crime. That’s not why we join”

“When it starts to become a focus just on numbers and targets, then we’ve got the potential to see perverse incentives taking place”.

There are claims that people feel they're being let down by police and that they'll lose confidence in their forces' work.

Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner says he's scrapped targets to help improve crime recording - and more officers have moved away from their desks and onto the streets.