How bad is the crime in YOUR area? Interactive map reveals how bad rates for car theft, burglary, street robbery, sexual offences, knife and violent crimes are in your neighbourhood
Violent crimes including knife possession, firearms offences and robbery have risen across England and Wales in the last year according to new stats that break down the most lawless areas of the country.
Analysis of Home Office crime data from the first two quarters of 2021-2022 and 2022-23 showed that gun offences almost doubled with 850 incidents logged across the two countries – a 49% increase on the year before which saw 570.
Of this number, 237 occurred in London helping the capital to a 2533% increase on the same figures from last year – although knife possession in the city fell by 13%.
The area with the second largest number of firearm crime was Manchester with 69 recorded instances, but rural areas like Essex also saw an 81% rise due to 58 offences over the period.
Concerningly knife possession across the country rose by 15% with police being called out to 14,482 incidents of people carrying bladed articles.
Take a look at our interactive map below to reveal how bad rates for car theft, burglary, street robbery, sexual offences, knife and violent crimes are in your neighbourhood
Knife crime across Manchester and Birmingham rose by 24% and 25% respectively with Liverpool also recording a 10% rise with 288 incidents.
Violent disorder across England and Wales also grew by 10% but encouragingly the murder rate dropped by 9%.
In non violent crime, theft of vehicles rose by 31% with a shocking 64,385 cars reported stolen.
MailOnline approached the Metropolitan Police for a response to the worrying rise of gun crime.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said its own figures on gun offences were ‘vastly different’ from the Home Office’ police recorded crime open data.
The authority said that according to their own regular updated figures the number of offences committed from April to September 2022 was actually 768 compared to 699 committed in the same period in 2021 – a 14% rise.
MailOnline analysed crime data for ten offences committed across England and Wales and compared rates to those recorded one year earlier.
The research found that Staffordshire was the worst performing area in the country outside of London with steep increases in the level of violent crime.
The data showed that in the first two quarters of 2022-2023, robbery, burglary, knife offences and assault all rose by more than 50% in the area.
Staffordshire Police’s Deputy Chief Constable, Emma Barnett accepted there had been troubling rises across the area.
She said: ‘While overall crime in Staffordshire remains low compared to other police force areas, there has been an increase in certain crime types, in line with national trends. However, it is worth noting that many crimes remain lower than pre-pandemic levels.
‘Some crimes have exceeded these levels, including theft of vehicles. We have recognised the impact this has on our communities and have created a new specialist team to tackle vehicle crime. The team’s introduction has led to a significant reduction in offences.
‘Since going back to a model of local policing model in June last year, we are spending more time in communities working with partner organisations to problem solve local issues. This has led to an increase in the number of arrests we’re making, with an average of 82 more arrests taking place each month.
‘Tackling knife crime remains a priority for Staffordshire Police and our partners.
‘We are tackling repeat offenders, focusing patrols in hotspot area and have increased prevention activity targeted at young people and within schools.
‘We have received funding for knife wands to be taken out on patrol and supported the installation of bleed kits in public areas.
‘Fortunately, gun crime is not a part of everyday life in Staffordshire but we take all incidents and concerns seriously.
We prioritise all reports of firearms offences, using our specialist officers to respond safely.
‘In October last year, we reinforced our commitment to attend and investigation all home burglaries unless there is an exceptional reason why the incident does not require us to do so.
‘Additional patrols are helping to ensure that police are visibly present in key locations at times of the day and night where analysis suggests crimes are most likely to occur.
‘As part of our redesign of our Public Protection Unit, we are looking at how the teams that investigate our most serious crimes, such as serious violence and sexual assault, can provide the best possible service for victims and other vulnerable people.’
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