Police did alter crime figures, says chief

London Evening Standard/London

A whistleblower’s claims that the Met manipulated crime figures to meet its performance targets are at least partially true, Scotland Yard’s chief admitted yesterday.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe told MPs that the preliminary results of an internal inquiry had already indicated that some of the allegations by Met constable James Patrick that crimes such as burglary and rape had been wrongly downgraded or written off were accurate.

Sir Bernard’s admission came during a tense appearance in front of the Commons Public Administration Committee during which he also admitted to inadvertently misquoting a report he had written himself.

Yesterday’s hearing was called in response to earlier testimony to the MPs from Patrick in which he alleged that sexual offences had been understated in official figures by up to 25% and that there had been similar mis-recording of burglary and other crimes.

The constable, who is currently facing disciplinary hearing, said that the figures were being fixed to meet a crime reduction target of 20% set by the London deputy mayor and added that he had come to MPs after being blocked from speaking out by the Met.

Sir Bernard said the allegations were a matter of serious concern and that an inquiry was still continuing. Early findings had suggested that some of Patrick’s claims were inaccurate, but that the remainder of his allegations had some validity.

“I think on the whole there is a truth there that we need to hear,” Sir Bernard told the committee. The commissioner said the Met had yet to speak directly to Patrick, partly because of his pending misconduct hearing, and that its inquiry was likely to take three to six months before reaching final conclusions. He said suggested that the complexity of crime recording rules and problems with technology were partly to blame for flaws in crime figure data, but insisted that he was determined to ensure the integrity of crime figures.