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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

law 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 a ...

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 ...

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

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 {{UK-law-stub

Reporting notifiable offences

See also

References

External links