The first three months of the lockdowns of the covid pandemic (April to June 2020) saw short-term falls in ‘crime workload’ of the police, which led to an increase in ‘charge volumes’, according to a study for the Home Office. The changes took place across a range of crime types covering violence, sexual, property and state-based offences (for example, drugs and public order), according to the study.
The police reallocated resources to clear backlogs of open cases; the Crown Proseuction Service (CPS) reallocated resources too, to deal with police referred cases in the wake of court closures. And more proactive policing – such as, more use of ‘stop and search’ – resulted in more charges for drugs possession. For the researchers, the pandemic was as a form of ‘natural experiment’ – into how changes in demand can affect police – and prosecutor – resourcing and, as a result, charge volumes.
Shoplifting was the only one of 23 offence sub-categories (from arson to bicycle theft, and burglary, to rape to crimes of violence) that saw all three measures – recorded crime, charge volumes, and charge-crime ratio – all come down.
as background, the researchers note that recorded crime has risen steadily since the year ending March 2016; yet charge volumes had been steadily declining, falling by 25pc between years ending March 2015 to 2020. Total police recorded crime – excluding fraud and computer misuse – fluctuated across the pandemic: first, substantial falls in April 2020 compared with April 2019 (down 27pc), broadly coinciding with the start of the first national lockdown. Police recorded crime started to increase as lockdown restrictions eased, and remained stable over the summer of 2020, when restrictions eased; and further declines came towards the end of 2021 during the second and third lockdowns. Police recorded crime appears to have returned to, and remained close to, pre-pandemic levels since national restrictions ended in July 2021.
During the pandemic, changes in ‘charge mix’ – what sort of offences police brought to charge – led to a shift towards typically charging more serious offences.
The researchers offer a theory of a police ‘workload effect’, whereby higher workloads ‘result in fewer charges, with the impact of increased crime demand most felt on clearance rates for less serious crimes’. The researchers point also to official HM Inspectorate of Constabulary inspections that noted that, ‘because of changes in the nature of demand, investigators could focus on clearing their outstanding investigations. They not only reduced backlogs but, with increased supervision, specialist guidance and support, improved the quality of investigations’.
For the study in full, visit gov.uk.
Photo by Mark Rowe; covid commemorative wall, between St Thomas’ Hospital and the River Thames, Lambeth.
