The mystery of the 75,000 missing crimes

21,000 thefts, over 6,000 assaults and almost 90 sexual offences not recorded as crimes by gardaí.

Sifting through pages of statistics, it’s easy to gloss over tables and figures.

But reading the latest critical report of the gardaí, this one by the Central Statistics Office, one table jumps out.

The table spells out what were the official crime figures for 2011 — and, beside that, states what they were in reality.

In total, it estimated there were 75,000 offences which, effectively, went missing, either slipping through the cracks in the recording system or recorded as non-crimes. These included 21,000 thefts, 12,300 incidents of public disorder, 6,400 assaults and 5,100 burglaries.

Other missing and serious crimes were 800-plus weapons offences, some 570 robberies, and almost 90 sexual offences. All the missing offences would have increased the 2011 total by 30%, with the greatest percentage rises in assaults, theft and public order.

The CSO has provided further evidence — catalogued in detail in a Garda Inspectorate report last November — of structural failings that run deep in the machinery of the force.

The CSO took the issues highlighted in the inspectorate’s exhaustive investigation and examined them for itself, taking the same time period, around 2011 .

It examined the Garda dispatch system — which logs and orders emergency responses — and found that 20% of calls to it were not being recorded on the Garda Pulse system, the database used for crime figures.

The 20% total included a figure of 25% for both criminal damage and public order. It also included a 12% rate for both burglaries and robberies. In addition, there was a figure of 23% for domestic violence cases. “If the Garda Síochána are satisfied that a criminal offence has taken place, then they are obliged to record it on the Pulse system as soon as possible.”

In addition to this, the CSO examined paper records at a sample of garda stations and found that 16% of crimes were not recorded on Pulse.

On top of that, 7% of incidents recorded as non-crimes should have been classified as crimes. These included cases of assaults and fraud. More than half of the non-crime domestic disputes should have been recorded as assaults, it stated.

Then the CSO looked at crimes that were classified downwards. Of a sample, it found 26% of assaults and assault causing harm downgrades were unjustified, while the reasoning for a further 24% was unclear.

If all that was not enough, one in six crimes marked as detected (solved) were incorrectly classified as such.

Finally, the agency looked at crimes that were “invalidated” on Pulse, something it said should only be done if it was “clearly established that no offence has taken place”.

Of 500 cases examined, 122 (23%) invalidations were “unjustified”, including four (or 30% of) homicide offences and 26 (or 43% of) of sexual offences.

It is not surprising, the CSO concluded, “given the importance of crime statistics, users and the general public need to have confidence in crime statistics and the way they are produced”.

It recommended the introduction of a unique identifying number for incidents, a detailed narrative of the incident on Pulse and a centralising of decision-making on classification.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the CSO and the Garda Inspectorate had identified “common issues of concern” which had been built up over time and in which technology had failed to keep up.

Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan said having the right data was “critical” for effective policing. She said a data quality team had been set up and three pilot schemes were under way.