# Recorded crimes of dishonesty (Scotland)

Crimes of dishonesty, such as theft, housebreaking and fraud, recorded by Police Scotland for every 1,000 people, by council area.

## Facts

- Published by: Scottish Government
- Level of detail: Council
- Updates: Yearly
- History: Since 1996
- Licence: Open Government Licence 3.0
- Levels: Nation, Council

## Periods

| Level | First | Latest | Periods |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Nation | 1996/97 | 2025/26 | 30 |
| Council | 1996/97 | 2025/26 | 30 |

## Coverage

| Nation | Areas | With a figure |
| --- | --- | --- |
| England | 296 | 0 |
| Wales | 22 | 0 |
| Scotland | 32 | 32 |
| Northern Ireland | 11 | 0 |

This layer covers Scotland only. For England, see street-level crime.

This layer covers Scotland only. For Wales, see street-level crime.

This layer covers Scotland only. For Northern Ireland, see street-level crime.

## Gaps

- This layer covers Scotland only. For England, see street-level crime: 296 (Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington, Halton)
- This layer covers Scotland only. For Wales, see street-level crime: 22 (Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham)
- This layer covers Scotland only. For Northern Ireland, see street-level crime: 11 (Antrim and Newtownabbey, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Belfast, Causeway Coast and Glens, Derry City and Strabane, Fermanagh and Omagh)

## Caveats

- This is Group 3 in the Scottish Government's classification, crimes of dishonesty. It includes theft, shoplifting, housebreaking, theft from and of vehicles, and fraud.
- Rates have fallen a lot since the 1990s, so older years sit in the highest colour classes.
- These are crimes recorded by Police Scotland, not all the crime that happens. Changes in the law and in how police record crime change the figures.
- The Scottish Government publishes rates per 10,000 people. Open Index divides them by 10 to show crimes per 1,000 people.
- Crimes are counted in the year the police record them, which is not always the year they happened. Years run from 1 April to 31 March.
- The rates for 2024/25 and 2025/26 use the 2024 mid-year population estimates, because the 2025 estimates came out after the Scottish Government's crime bulletin.
- Rates are per resident. Places that many people visit or work in, such as Edinburgh and Glasgow, can show higher rates because thefts from visitors and commuters are counted against residents only.
- Small councils, such as Shetland, Orkney and Na h-Eileanan Siar, record few crimes, so their rates move around from year to year.
- Scottish figures are not directly comparable with England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

## Example: Glasgow

In 2025/26, the recorded rate of crimes of dishonesty in Glasgow was 31.0 per 1,000 people.
That compares with 21.3 per 1,000 people across Scotland.

https://openindex.co.uk/glasgow

## Sources

### Recorded crimes and offences in Scotland

- Publisher: Scottish Government, from Police Scotland
- Licence: [Open Government Licence 3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/)
- Edition: Recorded crimes and offences 1996/97 to 2025/26
- Published: 13 August 2026
- Fetched: 15 October 2026
- Updates: annual
- Credit: Source: Scottish Government, Recorded Crimes and Offences (data.gov.scot). Crown copyright. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Publisher's page: https://data.gov.scot/dataset/recorded_crimes_and_offences

## Use it

- [The map](https://openindex.co.uk/map/scotland-theft-rate)
- Download (Council): https://data.openindex.co.uk/s/2026.10.8/downloads/layers/crime-scotland-dishonesty-rate/council.csv
- API: https://openindex.co.uk/v1/layers/crime-scotland-dishonesty-rate

## How to cite

Source: Open Index, openindex.co.uk. Link to this page, https://openindex.co.uk/sources/scotland-theft-rate.

Open Index's own text and the figures it works out are licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source data keeps its publishers' licences, named with each figure. Give each figure's period and source with it.

- Source: Scottish Government, Recorded Crimes and Offences (data.gov.scot). Crown copyright. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Snapshot 2026.10.8, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23508850. The HTML page: https://openindex.co.uk/sources/scotland-theft-rate