As part of the Western Australia Police Force’s ongoing commitment to the quality of crime statistics, a range of improvements were implemented in the Q2 2018/19 release (quarter ending December 2018). These improvements will be present in all releases since December 2018, and have also been applied to historical data to ensure comparability and consistency. As such any static copies of releases from before December 2018 will not reflect these improvements, and should not be compared with releases produced since that time.

These improvements serve to:

Improve the accuracy and consistency of crime statistics,

Reduce the over reporting of crime, and

Further align WA Police Force with national standards.

Overall, these improvements result in minor changes to the total number of offences reported in crime statistics, however the impact on specific categories varies.

The key improvements are:

Offences relating to ‘Indecent Dealing’ have been moved from the sub-category of Non-Assaultive Sexual Offences and into the sub-category of Sexual Assault. This sub-category more accurately reflects the nature of these offences, based on advice from legal and operational subject-matter experts. This change is applied retrospectively to all years of data, and does not affect the total number of Sexual Offences.

A range of other legislated offences have moved between reporting categories or sub-categories. These improvements stem from a thorough review of offence categorisations and reporting practices, and are informed by legislation, legal definitions, national reporting standards, operational use, and consistency with similar State and Commonwealth offences. These changes are applied retrospectively to all years of data.

The Counting Rule for Sexual Offences defines circumstances in which recorded instances of Sexual Offences are not included in crime statistics – resulting in a minor decrease in the number of reported offences. This Counting Rule aligns WA to national reporting standards and reduces over-reporting (such as where the recording of Sexual Offences has included unnecessary duplication). This Counting Rule is applied retrospectively to all years of data, and is supported by recent improvements to recording practices.

The pre-existing Assault Counting Rule has been amended – resulting in a slight increase in the number of reported offences. This change improves the accuracy of reporting offences relating to victimisation over extended periods of time, and better aligns WA to national reporting standards. This amended Counting Rule is applied retrospectively to all years of data, and is supported by recent improvements to recording practices.