Birmingham faces high crime with 1 in 8 affected. Wolverhampton and Coventry are also crime hotspots, while Lichfield is safer.
Wolverhampton ranks second with 29,412 crimes reported. Coventry holds third place. Lichfield is considerably safer; only 5,614 crimes got reported there.
Police in England and Wales logged over five million crimes, excluding fraud. London’s Met Police had the most reports, followed by the West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
Crime rates are used to make fair comparisons, showing crimes per 1,000 residents. This helps compare areas of different sizes accurately.
Westminster in London has the highest crime rate at 434 crimes per 1,000 people. This translates to one crime for every two people.
Camden has the next highest rate, but significantly lower at 189 crimes per 1,000 people. Westminster’s high tourism likely attracts criminals, impacting theft rates significantly.
Middlesbrough has the highest rate outside London, showing 166 crimes per 1,000 people. Manchester, Blackpool and Hartlepool follow closely.
Here is more specific local data: Birmingham ranks 22nd overall with a crime rate of 119.7 per 1,000 people. Wolverhampton ranks 41st, with a crime rate of 109.9 per 1,000 people. Coventry ranks 60th; the crime rate there is 102.9.
Walsall ranks 67th while Solihull ranks 124th. Dudley ranks 138th, and Tamworth ranks 172nd.
North Worcestershire ranks 201st. Lichfield ranks 253rd safest in the area.
Homicides decreased slightly, however, knife offenses rose a bit. Firearm offenses increased a lot, and robbery and shoplifting also increased overall.
A recent crime survey was published, using interviews to measure crime and asses its impact on people.
The survey found 9.5 million “headline” crimes, including theft, fraud, and violence. This is one million more than last year, with the rise mainly due to fraud.
The survey estimates harassment affected 4.4 million, domestic abuse affected 2.2 million, stalking affected 1.6 million, and sexual assault affected 1 million individuals.