20% of crimes not recorded on Pulse

Almost one-fifth of crimes reported to the gardaí were not recorded on the force’s official database in one year.

A CSO audit found that 20% of incidents reported by phone to stations in Dublin in 2011 were not transferred to the Pulse system. Outside the capital, note pads were being used to keep records of initial incident reports and 16% of those did not make it to the database.

The CSO review was carried out after the Garda Inspectorate last year exposed massive errors on Pulse including poor classification of incidents and under-reporting, casting doubt on true crime rates.

In 2011, there were about 450,000 records on Pulse — 300,000 of them were crimes.

The CSO ordered an audit of official Garda crime figures before agreeing to resume publication and its experts found the rate of offences in Dublin missing from Pulse ranged from 12.2% of robberies to 24.6% of public order offences, with an overall rate of 19.8% for the entire sample.

It cautioned that some of the missing records may actually be on the database but their audit found it impossible to accurately match them due to insufficient information.

Across seven major crime categories — assault, burglary, robbery, theft, criminal damage, car theft and public order offences — an estimated 3% of incidents were incorrectly classified and another 4% did not have enough information to determine classification.

Some 7% of incidents listed as domestic violence or “Attention and Complaints” should have been categorised as a crime.

Almost half of the reclassifications of assaults were unjustified or it was unclear what the justification was. The audits will continue, the CSO said.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the report identified the same issues of concern raised last year by the Garda Inspectorate.

“Many of these issues have no doubt built-up over time, particularly as technology has failed to keep up with the demands of policing in a modern society,” she said.

The Garda Inspectorate addressed the international context of crime rate figures in its report and found 8.5% of the 300,000 crimes in 2011 had been reclassified when the international average is about 4%.

“It is vital that we have access to accurate, reliable data on crime. I expect nothing less,” Ms Fitzgerald said.

“Quality data is critical to ensuring that the policing services offered by An Garda Síochána are responsive to emerging and latest crime trends. In addition, members of the public must be kept informed and they must be assured that the crime figures they are seeing are accurate.”

Ms Fitzgerald said she hoped to announce investment in Garda IT shortly.

A new incident recording process has also been piloted and Pulse is also being reconfigured to keep “investigation status” up to date.