❓ Hon Matt Benson-Lidholm asks why WA's crime statistics are excluded from the ABS publication due to data extraction issues. Hon Peter Collier responds, citing data quality concerns stemming from separate police systems and potential offender over-counting, while assuring ongoing efforts to improve data integration.
AnsweredQoN 862Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
CRIME STATISTICS
I refer to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ publication Recorded Crime—Offenders , Selected States and Territories that is based on information compiled from all states and territories within Australia, except for Western Australia, because “the data cannot be extracted to meet the statistical requirements of the offenders’ collection”. (1) Can the minister advise the house why this information cannot be extracted? (2) Will this data be available in the future? Hon PETER COLLIER
I refer to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ publication Recorded Crime—Offenders , Selected States and Territories that is based on information compiled from all states and territories within Australia, except for Western Australia, because “the data cannot be extracted to meet the statistical requirements of the offenders’ collection”. (1) Can the minister advise the house why this information cannot be extracted? (2) Will this data be available in the future? Hon PETER COLLIER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. (1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
(1) Can the minister advise the house why this information cannot be extracted? (2) Will this data be available in the future? Hon PETER COLLIER replied: I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. (1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
(2) Will this data be available in the future? Hon PETER COLLIER replied: I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. (1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
Hon PETER COLLIER replied: I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. (1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. (1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
(1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
(1) Can the minister advise the house why this information cannot be extracted? (2) Will this data be available in the future? Hon PETER COLLIER replied: I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. (1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
(2) Will this data be available in the future? Hon PETER COLLIER replied: I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. (1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
Hon PETER COLLIER replied: I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. (1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. (1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
(1) The new Recorded Crime—Offender, Selected States and Territories collection has been in the planning process for over four years. WA Police has been involved with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Crime Statistics Unit in developing and testing this collection. WA Police has provided test data to the ABS for this collection, but, after analysis of data sources and quality issues with the data, it was decided that the data from WA does not, at this time, meet the minimum quality requirements of the publication. The reason for this is due to the current inability of WA Police to prevent a possible over-count of offenders for this collection, since data must be sourced from two separate and distinct systems—Frontline IMS and Briefcase. Unlike some other Australian jurisdictions, information from our incident management system, Frontline IMS, does not automatically feed into our prosecution system, Briefcase. Consequently, when data from two systems must be combined for a single collection, there exists the possibility of the same person being counted on both systems for the same incident. Given the prevalence of the use of false names among offenders, and the potential for manual data entry errors inherent in any IT system, it has so far not proven possible to merge the data from the two systems without duplication. (2) WA Police continues to invest in the development of its information systems and information management and efforts continue to be made towards improving the quality and usefulness of the data contained within police recording systems. Ongoing efforts are being made to identify and test new methods of merging data from police systems and these efforts will continue until WA Police is able to contribute to all significant national statistical collections on crime and justice.
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