Cambridgeshire’s average score is below the average for England and Wales
Peterborough has been revealed as one of the most crime-ridden areas in the East of England, according to a new crime map. “Crime severity” scores measure the seriousness of wrongdoing in each area by examining the type of offending as well as the volume, so a murder or a rape counts much more heavily than a minor theft.
These figures indicate that in Cambridgeshire, crime is most severe in Peterborough. The city suffered the highest impact from violent crimes and sexual offences of any area in Cambridgeshire. More than two-thirds of its overall severity score of 18.6 was made up by these types of serious crimes.
Overall, it received the third-highest crime severity score in the East of England region, and the 62nd-highest of more than 300 community safety partnership areas in England and Wales, which are broadly comparable to council areas.
In Cambridgeshire, Cambridge received the second-highest score, of 14.0, significantly lower than Peterborough. At the other end of the spectrum, South Cambridgeshire was the safest place to live in our area, with a crime severity score of 7.6, followed by East Cambridgeshire (8.4).
Across the whole Cambridgeshire police force area, the average score is 12.8, which is below the England and Wales average. You can see how it compares where you live using our interactive map.
Crime severity scores may offer a truer picture of the impact of crime in each area than crime rates. These are useful in measuring the volume of crime, but don’t distinguish between different types of offences.
They are influenced by the scale of punishment imposed on wrongdoers, so crimes causing a high degree of harm are assigned much higher scores than low-level offences, such as criminal damage. When crime severity scores were first introduced in the year ending March 2003, England and Wales was given an overall score of 15.9.
The scores then fell consistently down to a low of 9.3 in the year ending March 2013, but then began rising each year apart from a dip during the pandemic. It peaked at 16.4 in the year ending March 2023, and currently stands at 16.3.
A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: ““We take all crime very seriously and work closely with partner agencies to tackle emerging issues in the city. We encourage people to report crime to help us build a picture and direct resources to where they’re needed.”
