Further Information

The concept of a Proportionate Response to Crime process is not new, indeed several legacy Forces, mainly in the east and north of Scotland operated a ‘Proportionate Enquiry Policy’ prior to the establishment of Police Scotland.

Prior to the role out of the Contact Assessment Model (CAM), some local policing divisions allowed crime reports obtained over the phone by the Public Assistance Desks to be directly filed.

What is Proportionate Response to Crime?

Firstly, Proportionate Response to Crime is not a policy of non-investigation. When an incident is reported to Police Scotland it is subjected to a THRIVE process, where an assessment of Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigative opportunity, Vulnerability and Engagement is undertaken – where any vulnerability is identified the police will always attend. Crimes with low associated threat, harm, risk or vulnerability are recorded remotely via telephone following the THRIVE assessment. This is called Direct Crime Recording or DCR, and is one of the resolution options available to Contact, Command and Control Service Advisors as part of the Contact Assessment Model.

There are approximately 95,000 Direct Crime Rerecording reports taken annually across Police Scotland, with such reports recorded by members of police staff and police officers working within the Resolution Team within our Contact, Command & Control Division via an appointment system.

Proportionate Response to Crime is an additional process, over and above the THRIVE assessment, where we carry out a structured initial investigative assessment of a crime when it is reported to the police. This process allows a much earlier assessment around lines of enquiry, which could include availability of CCTV, or witnesses to a crime.

Assessing the existence, or otherwise, of proportionate investigative opportunities within reported crimes already takes place on a daily case-by-case basis across the country. The Proportionate Response to Crime process essentially moves that assessment to an earlier point within the crime investigation process.

Proportionate Response to Crime Process

The process tested in North East Division was only applicable to certain crime reports recorded by the Resolution Team within our Contact, Command & Control Division as part of the Direct Crime Recording Process.

Every applicable crime report recorded by the Resolution Team was subject of an initial investigative assessment whilst the crime report was being recorded.

Where the Resolution Team assessed that there were no proportionate lines of enquiry, the reporter was advised that, although the crime report would be sent to their local policing division for review and assessment, it was unlikely the crime report would be allocated for enquiry and as such there was unlikely to be any further police contact. This process means callers are informed about the progress of their report more quickly, rather than waiting days for officers to contact them to provide the same outcome.

Crime reports assessed as having no proportionate lines of enquiry were fully updated with the circumstances of the crime, the review of investigative opportunities and were then sent to the North East Division Crime Management Unit with a recommendation that they were directly filed.

Police officers within the North East Division Crime Management Unit reviewed all crime reports recommended for direct filing and made their own divisional assessment as to whether or not the crime report should be allocated or filed.

Crime reports directly filed were fully visible to Local Area Command teams, affording them the opportunity to review the circumstances and allocate filed crime reports based on local knowledge.

Evaluation Results

During the 12 week pilot, 472 crime report were directly filed. This equates to 4.6% of all crimes recorded within North East Division during the pilot period.

The direct filing of 472 crime reports freed up an estimated 2,657 police officer hours. In taking a proportionate response to crime reporting, we aim to give officers more time to focus on local policing priorities - keeping people safe from harm, protecting the vulnerable, bringing criminals to justice, solving problems, and reducing offending.

To support the evaluation of the pilot, the project team worked with Strategy, Insight & Engagement to obtain the views of the public, police officers and police staff.

Prior to commencing the pilot, 72% of North East Division Constables reported they would regularly be allocated crime reports where no proportionate lines of enquiry existed.

At the conclusion of the pilot, 68% of North East Division Constables noticed a positive difference to their workload and 56% of Constables felt they had more time to investigate crime reports which had proportionate lines of enquiry.

The Proportionate Response to Crime process has continued to be used within North East Division.

Since the introduction of the process, public satisfaction rates in the Division have remained at a similar level, with a 66% satisfaction rate prior to the introduction of PRTC and a 64% rate recorded after three months.

The Police Scotland User Experience Survey is conducted to help us understand the experiences of the people who have contacted Police Scotland. Each month we contact about 14,000 people at random who have either reported or witnessed a minor crime.

Contact, Command & Control Division Management are confident that following the Proportionate Response to Crime process is achievable within the existing process time available to process a Direct Crime Recording incident / appointment and record a crime report.

Any further roll out of the process should not therefore result in a reduction in the number of available Direct Crime Recording appointments, nor require an uplift in the number of police officers and staff working within the Resolution Team.