A new map reveals the most dangerous West Midlands areas, with Birmingham seeing high crime rates; 1 in 8 people impacted.
Wolverhampton follows with 29,412 crimes reported, and Coventry has the third highest crime rate. In contrast, Lichfield is safer, reporting only 5,614 crimes.
Police in England and Wales logged many crimes, recording over five million non-fraud incidents. London’s Met Police had the most with 944,000 reports, followed by West Midlands Police with 321,000, and West Yorkshire with 278,000.
Areas are grouped into safety partnerships, often matching local authority boundaries. Comparing crime rates helps to show crime per 1,000 people, allowing fair comparisons between different sized areas.
Westminster in London has the highest crime rate with 434 crimes per 1,000 people, about one crime for every two people. Camden is next, but much lower, at 189. Westminster sees many tourists each year, drawing criminals, especially thieves and theft is much higher there.
Outside London, Middlesbrough has the highest rate, with 166 crimes per 1,000 people, meaning one crime for every six people. Manchester, Blackpool, and Hartlepool follow in the rankings.
Birmingham ranks 22nd overall with 138,610 crimes, excluding fraud, resulting in a rate of about 120 crimes per 1,000 people. Wolverhampton ranks 41st; they had 29,412 crimes, also excluding fraud, for a crime rate of about 110 per 1,000 people.
Coventry ranks 60th, recording 36,576 crimes without fraud, which equals a rate of about 103 crimes per 1,000 people. Walsall ranks 67th where police reported 28,909 crimes, sans fraud, and a rate of about 101 crimes per 1,000 people.
Solihull ranks 124th with 18,046 crimes with no fraud involved, measuring about 83 crimes per 1,000. Dudley ranks 138th, where people there reported 25,489 non-fraud crimes, giving a rate of about 78 crimes per 1,000 people.
Tamworth ranks 172nd, tallying 5,614 crimes, minus fraud, and a rate of about 71 crimes per 1,000 people. North Worcestershire ranks 201st, seeing 19,022 crimes, besides fraud cases, with a rate of about 66 crimes per 1,000.
Lichfield ranks 253rd with locals suffering 6,011 crimes, with no fraud included. The rate comes to 56 crimes per 1,000 persons.
Homicides decreased by 4%. However, knife-related offenses rose by 4%, firearm offenses increased by 19%, and robbery rose by 4% and shoplifting by 23%.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales was released; this poll measures crime’s extent and impact and uses face-to-face interviews. The survey estimates 9.5 million “headline” crimes, spanning theft, fraud, and violence, which happened by September 2024.
That’s about a million more than last year with the increase mostly due to fraud which increased by 19%. About 4.4 million people faced harassment, around 2.2 million were abused at home, stalkers targeted 1.6 million, and sexual assault harmed 1 million.
