National Rollout Update

The phased national roll out of PRTC is now complete. The Go Live date for each Command Area was as follows:

North Command – 01/05/2024
East Command – 27/05/2024
West Command – 24/06/2024

Since each divisions respective Go Live date, 12,017 DCR crime reports have been directly filed as part of the PRTC process. This equates to 3.1% of all crime reports recorded by Police Scotland over that same period.

The following table provides a breakdown of the number of crime reports recorded and directly filed since PRTC went live in each division:

Division Go Live Date Since “Go Live” date to 19th February 2025
Total CR’s Recorded DCR CR’s Recorded DCR CR’s Directly Filed % of CR’s Directly Filed
A 28-Aug-23 65,476 12,305 2,384 3.6%
N 01-May-24 20,775 2,359 388 1.9%
D 01-May-24 29,584 5,361 1,256 4.2%
E 27-May-24 40,597 12,491 1,462 3.6%
J 27-May-24 28,277 5,910 1,044 3.7%
C 27-May-24 17,443 3,669 588 3.4%
P 27-May-24 22,833 5,360 993 4.3%
G 24-Jun-24 63,921 8,794 1,784 2.8%
K 24-Jun-24 14,607 2,843 440 3.0%
L 24-Jun-24 11,422 1,405 206 1.8%
Q 24-Jun-24 39,956 5,405 735 1.8%
U 24-Jun-24 20,949 2,643 616 2.9%
V 24-Jun-24 11,718 925 120 1.0%
TOTAL 387,558 69,553 12,017 3.1%

Capacity Release

The direct filing of 12,017 DCR crime reports has freed up an estimated 63,583 front-line police officer hours.

Whilst each directly filed crime report frees up just over 5 hours of investigation time for a front-line response or community officer, due to the complex nature of front-line policing it’s extremely difficult to fully articulate how that additional capacity has been used.

Over a 12-month period we project that 16,962 DCR crime reports will be directly filed and will free up 89,730 front-line police officer hours.

The current local policing model rarely provides front-line response and community officers with dedicated / planned “enquiry time”. As such, officers allocated DCR crime reports are expected to investigate those crimes during the course of their everyday duties such as responding to ongoing incidents.

PRTC Bespoke User Experience Surveys

To support the evaluation of the PRTC roll out, a total of 1,301 bespoke PRTC surveys were sent to members of the public who were informed their crime report was being recommended for direct filing as a result of there being no proportionate lines of enquiry. 64 survey responses were received; this equates to a survey respondent rate of 4.91%. The low response rates may infer that users do not have a problem or complaint with the PRTC process, or do not have a strong view about the process either way. Police Scotland continues to monitor User Experience via our continuous User Experience survey for local policing, and this is reported via Policing Performance Committee on a quarterly basis.

The results of the User Experience Surveys are shown in the series of charts below. Each chart shows the number of respondents and their answer selection:

PLEASE NOTE: TABLES CAN BE FOUND WITHIN THE PDF DOCUMENT

When you reported the crime to Police Scotland, what were your expectations about how this would be progressed? Please select all that apply.

Before contacting Police Scotland, were you aware of our Proportionate Response to Crime process?

If yes, how were you made aware of the Proportionate Response to Crime process?

Please rate your agreement with the following statements about the Proportionate Response to Crime:

“I understand the Proportionate Response to Crime process”

“I understand why Police Scotland are carrying out this process”

“I understand what Police Scotland mean by ‘no proportionate lines of enquiry’”

Please rate your agreement with the following statements about the Proportionate Response to Crime process:

“When the details of the crime were being recorded over the phone, I understood that my report was being recommended for closure”

“I was satisfied with my crime report being recommended for closure and not allocated to a front-line police officer”

“I would feel confident reporting a crime to Police Scotland if the Proportionate Response to Crime process was rolled out nationally”

Continuous Research to Monitor and Understand User Experience and Public Confidence for Police Scotland

Police Scotland continue to monitor anything PRTC related via our regular user experience, public confidence, and trust monitoring mechanisms. For the local policing User Experience Survey, contacts are undertaken with approximately 14,000 people, at random, who have either reported or witnessed a minor crime.

The User Experience Survey results between May and October 2024 are detailed below alongside the same period in 2023:

User Experience Survey Results
Overall Satisfaction
Year May June July August September October
2023 69% 66% 64% 66% 67% 68%
2024 69% 69% 70% 70% 70% 68%

User Experience Survey Results
Receiving an Appropriate Response
Year May June July August September October
2023 62% 63% 59% 62% 62% 66%
2024 65% 62% 66% 66% 65% 65%

The Your Police survey enables a wider conversation with Scotland’s communities. Data and insight from the survey results enable the service to measure and understand public confidence, community safety and feedback about local policing. The survey runs from April – March each year and is robust.

The PRTC process has now been operating within North East Division (A) for over 12 months. The Your Police Survey data from North East Division reflects the benchmarking and the review of national data, as well as external sources utilised to enhance understanding of public confidence. This is informed by perceptions of policing.

Levels of public confidence in North East (A) Division are presented below, with the percentage difference from the national average presented in brackets:
Your Police Survey Results
Public Confidence
Year May – July August - October
2023 37% (+2) 33% (-2%)
2024 45% (No % difference) 39% (+3)