Kent crime commissioner Matthew Scott says that the failure of Kent Police to properly record thousands of crimes was “not good enough” and he wants inspectors to return sooner than scheduled to assess if improvements have been made.

The commissioner faced questions from members of the Kent and Medway Crime Panel today - a committee watchdog - who registered their concern that it was the second occasion the force had been found wanting on the issue.

Kent Police was in June rated inadequate in recording crimes and failed to record more than 24,000 offences, including rape and other sexual offences.

As a result, around 16% of all reported crimes went unrecorded between June and November last year.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found the force was failing many victims of crime.

Mr Scott acknowledged it had not done its job properly and that historically, there had been an issue with the integrity of crime data. He also accepted that it had “happened on my watch” and he shouldered some of the blame.

“Inspectors highlighted a number of concerns about the cultural issue of supplying crime data. The fact of the matter is that it has not been good enough. One of the big weaknesses was the audit process...after 2014, the process was not up to scratch.”

He said he was “holding the police force to account to ensure it improved” and that he had asked inspectors to come back to make further checks.

After the meeting, he said: “Since March, the force has been working in a number of areas and I have been told that the accuracy of the data is now 94% as opposed to 84%.

However, the key reason why Kent slipped was the audit process was insufficient. So I am asking HMIC to come back so that we can give people confidence that that the action we have taken is delivering results.”

He stressed that it was not a case that offences involving vulnerable people had not been investigated.

“In some of the cases where the victims were particularly vulnerable, where they may have been the victim of a sexual crime, they were properly safeguarded.”

Panel chairman Cllr Mike Hill said: “The force has taken its eye off the ball, and it is such an important issue. I hope it is not going to happen again.”

inspectors found the force failed to ensure it adequately records all reports of rape, other sexual offences and violence, including domestic abuse crimes.

In 2013, a report commissioned by the then crime commissioner Ann Barnes found the force was under-recording 10% of crimes - meaning that some victims were not getting the service they deserved because victim support services are only triggered when a crime is recorded.