A notifiable offence is any offence under
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
where the
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
must inform the
Home Office, who use the report to compile crime statistics. The term Notifiable Offence is sometimes confused with
recordable offence
A recordable offence is any offence in England and Wales where the police must keep records of convictions and offenders on the Police National Computer.
Legislation
The power for police to keep such records is contained in the National Police R ...
.
Reporting notifiable offences
There are strict rules regarding the recording of crime which is outlined in the
National Crime Recording Standards and the Home Office Crime Counting Rules. An incident will be recorded as a crime (notifiable offence);
For offences against an identifiable victim if, on the balance of probability;
# The circumstances as reported amount to a crime defined by law (the police will determine this, based on their knowledge of the law and counting rules and,
# There is no credible evidence to the contrary.
For offences against the state (against society) the points to prove to evidence the offence must clearly be made out, before a crime is recorded. An offence is regarded as being "against the state" where there is no specific identifiable victim, an example being
dangerous driving
In United Kingdom law, dangerous driving is a statutory offence. It is also a term of art used in the definition of the offence of causing death by dangerous driving. It replaces the former offence of reckless driving. Canada's Criminal Code ha ...
.
The following offences are generally categorised as notifiable offences;
*violence, damage, firearms, public order
*dishonesty, obscenity, drugs and sexual offences
*data protection
*the more serious road traffic offences
See also
*
Crime statistics in the United Kingdom
Crime statistics in the United Kingdom refers to the data collected in the United Kingdom, and that collected by the individual areas, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which operate separate judicial systems. It covers data relate ...
*
National Crime Recording Standards in England and Wales
In England and Wales, the principle of the National Crime Recording Standard is to direct how statistics about notifiable offences are collected by police forces. An important distinction is made between notifiable offence recording and police i ...
*
Recordable offence
A recordable offence is any offence in England and Wales where the police must keep records of convictions and offenders on the Police National Computer.
Legislation
The power for police to keep such records is contained in the National Police R ...
References
External links
The Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime
Law enforcement
Law of the United Kingdom
Law enforcement in England and Wales
Crime statistics
Governance of policing in England
Governance of policing in Wales
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