THE number of crimes reported in the city dropped by 17 per cent compared to the same time last year according to the latest figures.

A total of 1,096 crimes were reported in Worcester in April compared to 1,335 crimes a year earlier – a fall of just over 17 per cent.

Across the six policing areas, the most crimes were recorded in the city’s Cathedral patch, which covers the city centre, with 321 in total but while the total number of crimes reported fell by a quarter compared to 12 months ago, reports of violence and sexual offences, shoplifting and public order offences all rose.

A total of 321 crimes were reported in Cathedral in April this year but reports of violence and sexual offences rose from 76 last April to 149 this year.

However, reports of anti-social behaviour fell from 138 a year ago to 95 in April this year.

Worcester News:

Whilst the overall number of crimes fell in the city centre in April this year compared to last year, the number of reports of shoplifting almost doubled from 24 to 42 and reports of criminal damage and arson increased from nine to 30.

Public order offences also increased from 23 last April to 40 this year.

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A total of 129 crimes were recorded in Arboretum and Claines including 44 reports of violence and sexual offences, 28 reports of anti-social behaviour, 14 public order offences and seven burglaries.

The total number of crimes recorded in the month fell slightly from 134 a year ago but the number of reports of violence and sexual offences increased from 36 in April 2021 to 44 in the same month this year.

The number of reports of anti-social behaviour almost halved from 51 to 28 but the number of public order offences doubled from seven to 14.

You can see where in Worcester the crimes were reported and search by postcode here: 

In the same month in Battenhall and Nunnery, a total of 162 crimes were recorded compared to 179 in April 2021.

The number of reports of anti-social behaviour in the patch fell from 65 to 26 in the space of 12 months and the number of reports of violence and sexual offences increased slightly from 64 to 66.

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Reports of anti-social behaviour fell in the Gorse Hill and Rainbow Hill policing patch, down to 47 compared to 69 last year and the number of reports of violence and sexual reported in April was 55 compared to 62 in the same month last year.

Worcester News:

Fewer reports of criminal damage and arson were also made to West Mercia Police in April at nine compared to last April’s 20.

A similar fall in the reports of crime was seen in St John’s and Bedwardine down to 156 compared to last year’s 185 with reports of anti-social behaviour dropping from 68 to 31.

Reports of crime also dropped in Warndon from 212 to 169 in April with reports of anti-social behaviour falling by 60 per cent from 98 to 39 in April.