THE NUMBER of recorded sexual crimes in 2021/22 was “the highest figure experienced over the last six years,” according to the latest statistics from Police Scotland.

Between April 2021 and March 2022, the number of overall sexual crime rose by 13.7% compared to last year and by 17% compared to the five-year mean.

Of the 15,049 sexual crimes recorded, 1,388 were in September, more than any other month over the 12 month period.

Police Scotland's Quarter 4 Performance Report said that sexual assault and rape were the main drivers for the overall increase in sexual crime. 

The number of rapes recorded in 2021/22 was 2,370  an 8.2% increase from the previous year and 11.7% over the five-year average.

Of the rapes recorded last year, 945 were recorded as “non-recent” meaning they were reported more than one year after they were committed.

Detection rates of rapes dropped from 59.1% down to just 53.8%.

There was a drop in child sex abuse, down from 2,059 crimes recorded in 2020/21 to 1,918.

The force said there was a notable increase in crimes involving the "coercing of a person into being present/looking at sexual activity, communicating indecently and disclosure of an intimate image." 

Voyeurism, the report warned, continued to “increase significantly against last year and previous years.” 

Meanwhile, the lifting of Covid restrictions led to an 11.2% spike in violent crimes last year. 

There were 63,789 violent crimes in 2021/22, up from 57,369.

Most of those, 58,306, were common assaults.

Writing in the foreword of the report, Deputy Chief Constable Fiona Taylor said the increase was “likely due to the lifting of coronavirus restrictions against licenced premises and large events.”

Those regulations being in place for a great part of 2020/21 had, she added, “contributed to significantly lower levels of common assault than is typical.”

However, she admitted that the figure for violent crime was still up 2.1% on the five-year mean. 

Serious assaults also increased by 8.5% from last year, though it was down on the five-year average. 

Detection of violent crime was also down, with only slightly more than two out of three, 68.2%, being detected. 

There were 51 homicides recorded during 2021/22 – 48 murders and 3 culpable homicides  - which is ten fewer homicides than recorded in the previous year and is the lowest number of recorded homicides in any given year since the creation of Police Scotland. 

Ten of those murders are “assessed to be domestic-related”, compared to six during the same period last year.

There were also fewer attempted murders recorded this year, 264 crimes compared to 290. 

Meanwhile, since coming into effect in August 2021, 1,924 crimes have been recorded under the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021. 

Most of these, 1,130, were crimes of threatening or abusive behaviour of a retail worker. A further 786 involved common assault of a retail worker. 

There have been eight serious assaults of retail workers also recorded under the new legislation.

The law was introduced by Labour MSP Daniel Johnson in bid to have crimes against people working in shops taken seriously. It lowered the threshold at which obstructive, abusive or threatening behaviour could be considered a crime and can be prosecuted. 

DCC Taylor said: “The figures published today highlight that the past year has been an exceptional time for policing and the effects of the pandemic on crime continued to be felt.

“An overall increase in violent crime (11.2%) is measured against a significant reduction during 2020-21 (-10%) due to the restrictions in place at the time.

"The five-year mean (+2.1%) offers more insight into violent crime. A reduction in the number of homicides is welcome but there is more to do in order to tackle violence, including working with our partners to prevent offending.

“Police Scotland takes domestic abuse very seriously and we have specialist officers who work in communities across the country to tackle these offences.

"The comprehensive review we have commissioned into the policing response to public protection will allow us to continue to adapt and respond to shifting demand and vulnerabilities in this space.

“An increase in fraud has been recorded again this quarter and reaffirms that online policing is increasingly a key part of frontline policing. Work to disrupt the activities of criminals and protect the public has continued, with £6.46 million of fraud being prevented through the Banking Protocol alone.”