There were approximately 6.59 million crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2024/25, compared with approximately 6.66 million in the previous reporting year. Although there was a slight decline on the previous two reporting years, 2024/25 saw the third-highest number of crimes recorded in the provided time period, with the dip in crime figures reported in 2020/21 due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place throughout that reporting year. In general, the number of crime offenses in England and Wales increased at a fairly rapid pace from 2014 onward, rising from just over four million to a peak of 6.74 million offences in 2022/23. Reversing the trend after a decade of cuts The uptick in crime since the mid-2010s has led to serious questions about how to further reverse this trend and if the police have enough manpower and resources to counter it. Due to austerity measures pursued by the 2010 coalition government, police forces had to contend with fewer resources, leading to cuts in personnel. Between 2010 and 2017, officer numbers across the UK were reduced by 22,000 In more recent years, public sector expenditure on the police force has started to increase and reached 27.3 billion British pounds in 2023/24. As of 2024, there were around 170,500 police officers in the UK, 1,500 fewer than in 2010. Crime rates are highest in Northern England In 2024/25, the police force area with the highest crime rate in this year was Cleveland, located in the North East of England, which had approximately 122 crimes per 1,000 people, compared with the England and Wales average of 87.2. After Cleveland, the highest crime rates were reported by forces that are responsible for policing major UK cities, such as West Yorkshire Police, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, and the Metropolitan Police in London. The areas with the lowest crime rates are typically more rural in nature, such as Wiltshire, which had the lowest crime rate in this reporting year.

London had the highest crime rate among regions of the United Kingdom in 2024/25, at approximately ***** crimes per 1,000 population, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber, at ***** crimes per 1,000 people. On a more local level, the police force area with the highest crime rate in England and Wales was that of Cleveland, in North East England. Although London had the fifth-highest crime rate among police force areas, it was lower than the crime rates of the West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, and South Yorkshire police force areas as well. Is crime in the UK rising? Between the early 2000s and the mid-2010s, crime in the UK declined quite significantly. The crime rates of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland all fell during this time period. From around 2013/14, however the crime rate in England and Wales began to rise again, approaching levels seen in the 2000s. In Scotland and Northern Ireland crime also stopped declining at the same rate, although there was no sudden increase as seen in England and Wales. Without adjusting for population-size, the overall number of crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales reached a peak of around 6.74 million offences in 2022/23, falling slightly in the two years since then. What kinds of crime are increasing? Although overall crime levels have increased, some types of crime have continued to decline. Overall theft offences for example, are far lower than in the 2000s. This is partly due to the decline in burglaries, and vehicle theft offences. Shoplifting offences, by contrast have spiked since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a peak of over ******* offences in 2024/25. Additionally, the number of violence against the person offences surged from 2014/15 onwards, with the number of sexual offences also at far higher levels than in the recent past.

In 2023, around 3,640.56 violent crimes per 100,000 residents were reported in Oakland, California. This made Oakland the most dangerous city in the United States in that year. Four categories of violent crimes were used: murder and non-negligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; and aggravated assault. Only cities with a population of at least 200,000 were considered.

Police recorded crime figures by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership areas (which equate in the majority of instances, to local authorities).

With approximately 122.1 crimes per 1,000 population, Cleveland, in North East England, had the highest crime rate of all the police force areas in England and Wales in 2024/25. High crime rates are evident in other areas of northern England, such as West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester at 114.5 and 108.2, respectively. In the UK capital, London, the crime rate was 105.5 per 1,000 people. The lowest crime rate in England was in the relatively rural areas of Wiltshire in South West England, as well as North Yorkshire. Overall crime in England and Wales The number of crimes in England and Wales reached approximately 6.74 million in 2022/23, falling slightly to 6.66 million in 2023/24, and 6.59 million in 2024/25. Overall crime has been rising steadily across England and Wales for almost a decade, even when adjusted for population rises. In 2022/23, for example, the crime rate in England and Wales was 93.6, the highest since 2006/07. When compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, England and Wales is something of an outlier, as crime rates for Scotland and Northern Ireland have not followed the same trajectory of rising crime. Additionally, there has been a sharp increase in violent crimes and sexual offences since the mid-2010s in England and Wales. While theft offences have generally been falling, the number of shoplifting offences reached a peak of 530,640 in 2024/25. Troubled justice system under pressure Alongside rising crime figures, many indicators also signal that the justice system is getting pushed to breaking point. The percentage of crimes that are solved in England and Wales was just 5.7 percent in 2023, with sexual offences having a clearance rate of just 3.6 percent. Crimes are also taking far longer than usual to pass through the justice system. In 2022, it took an average of 407 days for a crown court case to reach a conclusion from the time of the offence, compared with 233 days in 2018. This is most likely related to the large backlog of cases in crown courts, which reached over 67,750 in 2023. Furthermore, prisons in England and Wales are dangerously overcrowded, with the government even releasing some prisoners early to address the issue.

There were approximately 530,640 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2024/25, the highest in this provided time period. Although the annual number of shoplifting offences remained quite stable before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a slight trend of rising offences that reached a pre-pandemic peak of around 382,660 in 2017/18. The 2020/21 and 2021/20 reporting years are not directly comparable to the other reporting years due to COVID-19 lockdowns that occurred at that time. Areas with the highest shoplifting rate In 2024/25, the shoplifting rate for England and Wales as a whole was 8.7 shoplifting offences per 1,000 population. Looking at individual police force areas, the area covered by Cleveland Police Force in North East England had the highest shoplifting rate of 14.2, followed by Nottinghamshire Police Force, in the East Midlands, at 13. By contrast, the Dyfed-Powys Police Force Area, in Wales had the lowest shoplifting rate of just 3.9 offences per 1,000 population. Although Cleveland also had the highest overall crime rate in England and Wales, and Dyfed-Powys had one of the lowest, Nottinghamshire's crime rate was slightly below the overall average, despite having such a high shoplifting rate. Comparisons with other theft offences Shoplifting is one of the major sub-categories of theft in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. Although shoplifting offences have increased significantly recently, the number of theft offences overall has generally been falling. In 2002/03 for example, there were approximately 3.41 million incidences of theft, compared with just 1.78 million in 2024/25. This trend has been driven by declines in other types of crime, such as burglary and motor vehicle theft which have both fallen considerably when compared to the early 2000s. The sharp increase of fraud offences also reflects how the nature of property crime has evolved in recent years.

There were 951,803 crimes recorded in London in the 2024/25 reporting year, compared with 938,020 in the previous year. During this time period, crime in London increased steadily, with the figure of 912,487 in 2019/20 a pre-pandemic peak when there were approximately 102.4 crimes per 1,000 people taking place in the UK capital, compared with 106.4 crimes per 1,000 people in the most recent year. What types of crime are rising? Compared with crime levels before the COVID-19 pandemic, some types of crime have yet to reach the same levels they were at in the 2019/20 reporting year. The number of criminal offences related to theft and drugs, are slightly down in 2023/24 when compared with pre-pandemic trends. On the other hand, the number of violent crimes reached a peak of 252,545 offences in 2023/24, while the number of sexual offences in London since 2021/22 has been far higher than in previous years. London compared to the rest of UK While the UK capital receives extensive coverage for its crime problems, the increase in crime there is part of a wider trend afflicting the rest of the country. The overall crime rate for England and Wales in 2023/24 was 89.7 crimes per 1,000 people, slightly lower than in 2022/23, when the crime rate was the highest since 2006/07. Additionally the Metropolitan Police, the police service responsible for policing Greater London had the sixth-highest crime rate among police force areas with Cleveland police force in North East England having the highest.

In 2024/25, there were approximately 1.78 million theft offences recorded by police forces in England and Wales, compared with just under 3.41 million in 2002/23. Unlike overall crime, the number of police recorded theft offences has not seen a substantial increase, with the number of thefts in the 2020s similar to that a decade earlier, with a small uptick in the late 2010s. This is however due to the decline of certain types of theft, with some types of theft increasing substantially since the pandemic. Shoplifting offences peak in 2025 In 2024/25, there were around 530,640 shoplifting offences reported by the police in England and Wales, a peak for this type of crime and a noticeable increase on the previous year. Areas of the country with the highest shoplifting rates include Cleveland, Nottinghamshire, and Sussex. Aside from shoplifting, theft from the person offences also reached a peak in the 2024/25 reporting year, at over 151,000 offences, compared with just 78,000 ten years previous. This type of theft is usually accomplished via pickpocketing or snatching and doesn't involve the implicit use or threat of force that a robbery offence would. Shifting crime patterns Since the early 2000s, there has been a significant fall in the number of burglaries in England and Wales. It's possible this is due to the falling value of certain types of goods, such as TVs, that would typically be targeted in a burglary, with home security technology also improving during this time. The rise of fraud offences and the proliferation of the online scam industry also suggest that would-be criminals have moved online, adoping increasingly sophisticated tactics to steal from people rather than via more conventional theft methods.