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Crime Rates

Crime Rates in the North East areas and Regional Comparators

Population and health
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How are Crime Rates measured?

Crimes against households and people aged 16 and over in this report are provided using data from police recorded crime and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The values shown below give the number of crimes recorded per 1,000 people. The third chart shows the different rates of crime; because some crimes are included within multiple categories, adding these rates together does not give the total recorded crime value rate per each area.

The CSEW remains the best estimate of crime long-term trends in the UK. CSEW estimates have been temporarily suspended of their National Statistics status while ONS assess data quality since the pandemic. For more information, see the Office for Statistics Regulation's Temporary suspension of National Statistics status for estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales note. Police recorded crime data are not a National Statistic as they are affected by changes in recording practice over time. Currently, offences of fraud are excluded from subnational breakdowns of police recorded crime. Action Fraud have taken over the recording of fraud offences on behalf of individual police forces.

Crime Rates in the North East and Comparator Areas

In the year to March 2023, there were a total of 110 crimes per 1,000 people in the North East Region, 99 in Northumbria Police Force Area, and 102 in Durham Police Force Area. Hereon these areas are referred to as North East, Northumbria, and Durham. The North East also covers Cleveland Police Force Area which operates across the Tees Valley LEP. The total recorded crimes per 1,000 people has remained relatively stable in Northumbria and Durham between 2020 and 2023, starting at 99.9 and 101.9 respectively in 2020 and at 98.7 and 101.8 in 2023. There was a dip in crime rates in 2021 where the number of recorded crimes fell to 91.7 in the North East, 86.4 in Northumbria, and 87.8 in Durham. Crime has risen slightly across the North East from 2020 to 2023, where total recorded crimes per 1,000 people was 105.1 in 2020 and 110.0 in 2023.

In the year to March 2023, the North East had higher crime rates compared to the average across England, which was 92.8 recorded crimes per 1,000 people (it was 110 in the North East). The North East also had higher crime rates than the North West, East Midlands, and West Midlands, but had lower crime rates than in Yorkshire and the Humber, which recorded 114.1 crimes per 1,000 people.

The second chart shows the crime rates in comparator geography police force areas (PFAs) in 2023. Cleveland had the highest crime rate with 148 crimes recorded per 1,000 people and the lowest was Avon and Somerset with just 81 crimes recorded per 1,000 people. There was a gap between the more urban PFAs, which typically recorded more crimes per 1,000 people and the more rural areas which typically recorded less. Northumbria and Durham recorded significantly less crimes per person than the more urban areas like Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, but more than the rural areas which hovered at around 80 crimes per 1,000 people.

Violent crime is the most common crime to be recorded in the North East, followed by theft, then stalking and harassment. Violent crime has been increasing since 2020 in the North East, when there were 36.2 crimes reported per 1,000 people, by 2023 there were 41.6 violent crimes per 1,000 people. This is much higher than the average across England which was 35.1 in 2023. However, the North East recorded lower than average robberies, vehicle offences, and drug offences compared to England.