rds counting rules

Counting Rules for Recorded Crime

The Home Office Counting Rules provide a national standard for the recording and counting of notifiable offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales (known as ’recorded crime’). The Rules were revised to take account of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) which was adopted on 1 April 2002 with the aim of recording crime in a more victim-focused way and maintaining greater consistency between police forces in the recording of crime.

Ongoing consultation on the formulation and development of the policy on crime recording is provided through working groups comprising members of RDS, police force regional representatives and representatives of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Recent revisions
The most recent revisions to the Counting Rules came into effect on 1 April 2008.

Summary of amendments April 1 2008 (word, 368K)

General Rules (pdf 692k) apply across all types of recorded crime and include legal definitions and examples of how crime is recorded and detected. The National Crime Recording Standard (pdf 248K) is included as an annex to the General Rules.

Categories of recorded crime
The Counting Rules are applied across nine categories of recorded crime. Download any of the categories below for a breakdown of the offences in each and explanations of how they are classified.

Violence against the Person (pdf 900k)
Sexual Offences (pdf 472k)
WARNING may not be considered suitable for minors.
Robbery (pdf 80K)
Burglary (pdf 228K)
Theft & Handling Stolen Goods (pdf 356K)
Fraud & Forgery (pdf 560K)
Criminal Damage (pdf 244K)
Drug Offences (pdf 236K)
Other Offences (pdf 564k)

Notifiable Offence list 2008/09 (excel, 492k) for use with non sanction detections section as contained within General Rules, Section H, Method of Detection D.