Police statistics: The thing about this year�s recorded crime statistics, hailed yesterday by the Justice Secretary as the �lowest crime figures for 25 years�, is that they don�t explain the full picture.

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Mark Twain

The thing about this year's recorded crime statistics, hailed yesterday by the Justice Secretary as the "lowest crime figures for 25 years", is that they don't explain the full picture.

Indeed, the "recorded crime statistics" thus applauded, don't include 571,881 "offences" committed last year, among them some 90,000 breaches of the peace and more than 73,000 minor assaults.

Crimes are split into seven groups and it's a historical anomaly that groups one to five crimes, which include murder, rape and vandalism, are categorised as "crimes" and yet groups six and seven, which include driving offences, drunkenness and breaches of the peace, are termed "offences".

According to the statisticians, to change the categories that would mean that we would not be comparing like with like in the future.

The Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey, which records data from victims, claims that on average about 50% of crimes are not reported to police, a figure confirmed by the Scottish Government.

Yesterday's report says: "According to survey estimates, the proportion of crimes reported to the police reached its peak in 1999 at 43% and has been falling ever since.

"The main reasons given were that the incident was too trivial (27% of unreported incidents), the police would not have been able to do anything (27%), the police would not have been interested (17%), or the victim dealt with the matter themselves (17%).

"We also have to remember that these statistics only show crimes which are reported to the police," said Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, the head of Scotland's violence reduction unit.

He warned such figures should not lead to complacency.

In 2005, a study conducted by Dr Michael Sheridan, special registrar at Glasgow Southern General's accident and emergency unit, found at least four people are slashed or stabbed in Glasgow every day - but only 53% of victims informed the police.

"Not all crimes are reported to the police and the propensity of the public to report crime to the police also changes over time," according to yesterday's bulletin. "Thus, statistics recorded by the police may not accurately reflect the underlying trend in all crime."

The Herald has long argued that overall crime has been falling for years and frequently questions why the prison population is rising at such a disproportionate rate but the central question perhaps should relate more to how the statistics are presented.

Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, said: "The latest figures for recorded crime show there were 34,000 fewer crimes in Scotland last year meaning crime is at a 25-year low. I welcome this evidence that there were tens of thousands fewer crimes and so tens of thousands fewer victims during our first year in government. However, we're committed to taking the action needed to drive down crime for the long term, not just for one year. There will be no let up in our blitz on bevy and blades'."

In fact, the combined total of recorded crimes in groups one to seven, shows that there were 957,390 crimes and offences last year - approximately 200,000 more than in 1981/2 - the year the minister is citing.

"Interpreting crime statistics is notoriously difficult because there are so many different issues involved and because there are often a number of trends within the same figures which require a much deeper inspection to see exactly what is happening," said Kenneth Scott, director of the centre for criminal justice and police studies at the University of West of Scotland.

"There does seem to have been a genuine reduction in crime but what is causing that is more difficult to ascertain and is likely to be the result of a particular policing focus. In relation to violent crime and its prevention that may have been very positive but others may be negative - such as the reason some people have decided not to report certain crimes."

Last year, there was a 6% decrease in reports of rape. Mr Scott questioned whether that could be seen as a positive change if it has come about as a result of fewer women feeling it is a crime worth reporting.

There are also areas of policing - such as drugs seizures - which are in fact praised more heartily when they increase. Officers have long argued that the more proactively they police crimes like the possession of drugs or weapons - the more the figures will rise.

Last year's figures show that drugs were down by 4%.

Ultimately though, the figures are very positive. There were almost 34,000 fewer crimes recorded last year - down 8% on the previous year's figures.

Even "offences" are 6% lower than they were the previous year. But seen over time and as a whole, the past year's figures are perhaps less impressive than some have claimed.

Forces have introduced a raft of new measures to prevent and pinpoint violent crime and deter low level anti-social behaviour with diversionary measures, like night-time football.

Centralised call centres and intelligence-led policing have also seen dramatic improvements. In 2003/4 all eight forces introduced the new crime recording standard - a victim-led non-corroborated approach - which ensures consistency between forces but also, quite predictably, led to an increase in the reported numbers of minor crimes.

This led to an all-time high for recorded crime in 2005 -predominantly just because of the way crimes were recorded. Since then, the figures have fallen once again.

Perhaps most impressive is the recent fall in violent crime - down 9% on the previous year.

Over the past few decades crimes such as housebreaking and car theft have reduced significantly thanks to improved policing and preventative measures.

Violent crime has proven much harder to influence. But the Violence Reduction Unit and the work of individual forces to focus on this blight seems to be paying off.

Stephen House, Chief Constable of Strathclyde and chairman of the Crime Business Area for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos), said: "The decrease in crime rates in many categories - including the improvement in the clear-up rate for all recorded crimes - shows that the efforts of Scotland's police forces, coupled with the hard work of the Violence Reduction Unit, are having a beneficial impact on communities throughout the country.

"The annual figures have shown a decrease in both crimes and offences, as the latter category (which includes such items as minor assaults, breach of the peace, drunkenness, dangerous and careless driving, drunk driving and speeding among others) is the one which affects a greater number of the public and results in how they perceive crime in our communities.

"Scotland has the strictest ever crime recording regime in place and, although crime figures have been dropping for the past 15 years, we cannot become complacent. We must continue to work hard to bring these figures down even lower."