The Police.UK site offers a feature to show you insight into crimes happening in your area.

The site produces crime maps which pinpoint the location of the crime and you can check what kinds of crimes that have been committed on your street or even near your doorstep. 

From Carlisle to Whitehaven The News and Star has looked into crime maps across our City and towns in West Cumbria to get a snapshot of crimes across the region. The most recent crime maps are always two months behind as they take time to collate and so the most recent figures have been published for March.

 

News and Star:

In Whitehaven, the highest number of offences were violent and sexual offences by a large majority, whilst anti-social behaviour appears second on the list.

The disbursement of the crime is overwhelmingly in the centre of town with 80 reported crimes in that area, out of the 80 in the centre, 33 were sexual and violent offences. There were 20 reported anti-social behaviour incidents.

Whilst 30 crimes were simply stated as ‘other crimes’. However, the third graph shows the larger concentration of crime in the town centre, which is predominately centred around the taxi rank in Whitehaven.

This area is usually busy at the weekend with those waiting to go home after a night out, which may explain why crime is more common in this area.

News and Star:

Workington, a similar trend is followed.

Violent and sexual offences take up the majority of the crime committed. However, public order and shoplifting feature in the top four for this area.

The crime is Workington is not evenly distributed, with much lower rates occurring outside of the town centre compared to the 235 within the centre in February. 

 

In Whitehaven, a high percentage of the crime in the town centre happens around the typical nightlife surroundings of Workington, near popular bars/clubs.

In this area, the crimes reported are sexual or violent.

However, closer to the Wetherspoons in Workington, the majority of these crimes are related to anti-social behaviour.

Carlisle’s crime rate has a much more even spread between the different crimes committed.

Whilst sexual and violent crimes are the most common at 55 reports in February 2022, anti-social behaviour follows closely at 42. Criminal damage and arson and shoplifting also feature closely together.

The crime is also dispersed in less drastically. This may be due to Carlisle being bigger than the other towns in the area, so the crime rate occurs in different areas.

However, for a city, Carlisle has a relatively low crime rate.

Wigton also has a relatively small crime rate, but again violent and sexual offences take the top spot for the most common crime in the area.

Public order, anti-social behaviour and ‘other theft’ feature on the list at low levels. However, the graph to the right shows a huge decline in the crime rate in March 2022.

The rate spiked at December, which may be explained due to an increase in partying in December, however, it fell dramatically from January to February.

News and Star:

Aspatria also has a lower crime rate compared to other areas. However, drugs and burglary feature in their top four list.

Unlike Wigton, the crime rate either has not any large decrease in their crime rate and the pattern on the map does not follow any trend.

News and Star:

Maryport includes the same type of crime as Whitehaven, Workington, and Carlisle.

The top four here includes violent and sexual offences, ASB, public order and criminal damage/arson.

The crime rate as shown on the graph is split quite evenly between two places on the map, both areas sharing around the same number of offences.

News and Star:

Cockermouth’s crime map shows there is an overwhelming amount of violent and sexual offences compared to other crimes in the area. This offence was reported 43 times in February and public order offences, which was the closest in reports received 9.

The crime map trends does not point out any rise or decrease and the crimes occur mainly in the centre.

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