Make communities safer
Addressing crime and violence
An increase in recorded crime
The total recorded crime in Coventry increased in the rolling year to January 2020 to 28,587 from 28,056 in January. This is a 1.9% increase a much smaller increase than in January 2019 which was 9.2%. The main offences were theft from motor vehicle 2,385 (up 12%); common assault, 2,198 (up 24%); assault occasion ABH 2,139 (down 1%); burglary residential 1,726 (down 18%); and theft from shop/stall 1,612 (down 23%).
The crime rate per 1,000 population has also increased from 76.5 to 77.9 crimes per 1,000. This is lower than the rate recorded in both Wolverhampton and Birmingham, using the ONS 2018 population estimates. Wolverhampton rate is 95.0 and Birmingham is 100.6 recorded per 1,000 of the population.
Youth offending
Low and declining levels of youth offending
First Time Entrant rates, already at a record low, continue to decrease the rate reduced to 224 in 2019/20 from 235 in 2018/19.
Hate crime
In 2019/20 the largest category (83%) of hate crime and non-crime incidents recorded were related to the protected characteristic of race/ethnicity; followed by sexual orientation (12%); sex/gender/transgender (2%); religion (1%) and disability (1%).
Incidents relating to race/ethnicity, sexual orientation and sex/gender all saw an increase in the number of incidents reported in 2019/20.
Challenging hate crime and supporting victims
A new Hate Crime Panel Process has been developed. The purpose of the group is to review Hate Crime cases and identify support for the victim. The panel has a wide range of groups connected to the panel to provide the support. Partnership working between statutory and community sector organisations is key to the success of this to support victims.
Tackling extremism and radicalisation
Tackling the causes of radicalisation is a key element of the work we do to ensure we are building more resilient and safer communities. The Council continues to work closely with our partner agencies and a range of community groups to raise awareness and challenge those extremist groups that seek to divide and cause
harm. This includes
• enhanced training for professionals,
• developing resources to support the education sector and
• holding workshops with young people to understand their concerns.
Through Channel Panel – the multi-agency early intervention programme; we have safeguarded and supported vulnerable individuals and families this past year.
Preventing youth violence
The West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit invested £160k into the Hillfields area of Coventry (a police impact area) to support work on tackling violence. Over the course of three months we took a whole life course approach working with children as young as 2 going right up to adulthood. Preventative activities including programmes in nurseries, schools, and religious settings to build resilience in young people have been delivered. The family hub was opened at weekends in order to provide detached outreach youth work to those entrenched in gang activity to work with them and persuade them to seek help to adopt more positive activity including education, employment or training. A network of professionals including health visitors, policing, community members, early help staff, local radio, pharmacy staff and others has been built to make them aware of the role they can play in identifying those at risk of violence and how to report their concerns.
Domestic abuse
New domestic abuse services introduced July 2019
The new services aim to increase support and encourage those affected by domestic abuse to seek help. It’s part of a joint effort by the Council and partner agencies to address the issue and recommission the services, in a bid to improve responses across the city to incidents of domestic abuse services. The collective services are set to include: community-based victim support; a counselling service for children affected, safe accommodation for victims; counselling support for victims of sexual violence; and a perpetrator service.
Increase in domestic abuse crimes reported
There has been an 11.1% increase in Domestic Violence reported in 2019/2020. The number of reports increased from 6,719 in 2018/19 to 7,466 in 2019/20. In 2019/20 there were 4,178 crimes and 3,288 non-crimes reported over the 12 months.
There were 623 more crimes and non-crime reported to the police by females and 99 more reported by males in 2019/20 than in 2018/19.