Crime detection rates slip to lowest point since 2006

The number of crimes solved by police dipped last year to the lowest point in a decade, according to the latest annual report issued by the Gibraltar Police Authority.

While overall crime levels remained on a par with the preceding year, the detection rate during 2014/15 slipped from 61% to 57%, the GPA said.

A total of 3,603 ‘true crimes’ were reported during that period, of which 43% went undetected.

This is the lowest detection rate since 2006, when the GPA was established and records began to be published annually.

The detection rate refers to the number of crimes in which a person has been charged or cautioned, though not necessarily convicted.

Since 2006, it has usually ranged anywhere between 60% and 71%. The GPA report noted that in some areas of crime, the detection rate was much higher. For drug crimes, for example, it stood at 81%.

Although the lowest since 2006, the RGP’s overall detection rate is in fact much higher than any comparable figure in the UK, where detection rates across the 43 police forces in England and Wales are typically static around the 28% mark.

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