The high number of rape cases recorded in Dumfries and Galloway this year are mainly historic offences, the region’s police chief has revealed.
Police chief superintendent Carol McGuire insists that improvements in the reporting process and police service mean that more victims have come forward about incidents that happened years ago in some cases.
“One case is too many,” she told councillors on the council’s police, fire and rescue sub-committee.
A police performance report recently showed that 47 rape cases were reported between April and September this year – up from 34 over the same period in 2021.
The detection rate has also increased from 41.2 per cent to 63.8 per cent.
Chief Superintendent McGuire attended the meeting to provide more background information about the latest crime stats.
Council co-leader Linda Dorward asked her: “There has been an increase in recorded rape and analysis shows that a majority, 29, relate to female victims aged 16 and over.
“In the comparison with 2017/18 to today, it’s gone from 17 to 47.
“Would you be able to give an overview of causative increase? I think that might be due to better reporting in some ways and easier access but I’d like to hear your perspective on that.”
Chief Supt McGuire said: “Two thirds of the reports this year are what we would call historic offences.
“I’m confident that’s down to the improved service that we provide, improved reporting mechanisms, and we’ve obviously got dedicated officers that deal with this type of enquiry. And we do try to promote our work as best as we can.
“The majority of this is historic, which is positive, but, obviously, with any of these, one case is too many. We’ll continue to do preventative and enforcement work.”
The report also showed there have been 105 sexual assaults reported over the six month period – three down on last year – with more than 60 per cent “non-recent” and involving a domestic link.
There was an increase in domestic abuse incidents from 717 to 799.
There were 766 common assaults – up from 718 before – with 116 incidents of emergency workers being assaulted, down from 141 the previous year.
Housebreaking figures fell from 134 to 115 but shoplifting was up from 257 to 290 – partly due to pandemic restrictions forcing shops to close last year.
And fraud also increased, with nearly 250 cases across the six months.
Chief Supt McGuire confirmed that most cases involved online cyber fraud and that the highest figures were “in the tens of thousands”.
