Crime rates show huge variations in levels of crime, it is claimed by a think-tank, Reform.
The think-tank’s report Urban Crime Findings claims that better information and stronger accountability will improve police performance. Nottingham, it finds, has the highest crime urban area, recording four times the number of selected crimes per 1,000 population as the safest towns such as Southend and Poole.
The report authors say they use new data obtained from police forces by Freedom of Information requests on seven offences: murder, rape, assault, burglary, robbery, vehicle crime and gun
crime.
It argues that more intelligible statistics and new models of accountability will increase local pressure for better police performance in high crime cities and towns. Reporting of crime in England and Wales is dominated by the annual national crime statistics which have shown falls over the last decade. But these mask, it is claimed, dramatic local variations in each of the crimes surveyed. In December 2005 the Statistics
Commission criticised existing crime statistics. The Reform report uses an American model of reporting with the aim of presenting urban crime statistics that are easily comprehensible to the public. The findings claim that the Home Office’s key target – that the crime in high crime areas should fall more quickly than in other areas – is not challenging enough. It is, however, local rather than central initiatives that will have the greatest impact on crime, according to the think-tank, which hopes that the findings will focus attention on police performance in
urban areas such as Nottingham, Leeds and Stockport.
Some findings
At 115.5 crimes per 1,000 population, Nottingham had almost four times the level of crime as the safest towns in the rankings: Southend, which recorded 30.9 crimes per 1,000 population, and Poole, with 32.7 crimes per 1,000. There is, the report claims, dramatic variation between towns of similar size. Nottingham’s crime rate of 111.5 crimes per 1,000 population can be contrasted with the much better performance of towns of around 250,000 people such as Wolverhampton (49.1/ 1,000) or Reading (43.4/ 1,000). In London, there is a wide variation between the safest boroughs in the capital (Sutton, Kingston upon Thames and Richmond), and the most dangerous (Westminster, Hackney, Islington and Southwark).
What they say
Blair Gibbs, co-author of the report said: “The Government’s key message that crime has been falling masks a huge variation between the safest and most dangerous urban areas. Better information and improved policing based on direct accountability to local communities is urgently needed to drive down crime and increase public safety.” And Andrew Haldenby, Director of Reform said: “Publication of better information is a key means to improve the performance of public services. For services such as health and education, it allows users to exercise choice between providers. For services such as policing, where choice does not apply, it allows local communities to compare the performance of different police units and to demand better performance.”
