VIOLENT crime figures have soared by a third after it was recognised that they were being under-recorded by Sussex Police.

More reported violence is now being identified as crime following a challenge from inspectors, Chief Constable Giles York said.

Speaking to The Argus, Mr York said: “They were under-recorded as crimes.

“People were reporting things to us and we would say, ‘We don’t think they have necessarily met the threshold to constitute recording it as a crime’.

“That threshold has been challenged – and we have shifted the threshold.”

He added: “The HMIC [Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary] did an inspection that set new parameters around what that threshold looks like.”

The number of recorded violent crimes in Sussex has jumped by 33% during the past year. Mr York said the rise reflected the new way of treating calls and he did not think there was an actual increase in offending.

He said: “We get about the same number of phone calls about violence overall but actually the number that is converted into recorded crimes has increased.

“So that is why I get the assurance in saying, our streets are no more dangerous than they ever were – it is just a shift in recording practice.”

HMIC has been inspecting all 43 local police forces in England and Wales this year on how they record crime data.

Inspectors stress that proper recording is needed so the crime can be properly investigated and the police performance understood.

The help available to victims of crime also depends on crimes being recorded as such. HMIC’s report on Sussex Police is due to be published later this year.

Deputy Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney has told the police and crime commissioner that the increase in recorded violent crimes was “all part of the national and very local focus on the integrity of our crime-recording processes”.

She added: “I am really confident that a huge part of that uplift is because we are better at writing it down, so I am really confident about it.

“As I say, we have had fewer calls and yet our recorded crime is up by a third.”

She added that the force recorded about 23,000 violent crimes a year, and solved around half of them.