Birmingham’s Crime Rates: Explained

Birmingham Crime Rate

Birmingham has faced persistent crime challenges. Ensuring personal safety is a concern in any city, but this issue is intensified in the nation’s second-largest city. But what is Birmingham’s crime rate really like? We’ll be discussing this and more, such as what crimes are the most popular in the city.

1. Most Common Crimes In Birmingham
2. Violent Crimes
3. Vehicle Crimes
4. Anti-Social Behaviour Crimes
5. Criminal Damage And Arson
6. Other Theft Crimes
7. Shoplifting Crimes
8. Public Order Crimes
9. Burglary Crimes
10. Robbery Crimes 
11. Drug Crimes
12. Possession Of Weapons Crimes
13. Other Crime
14. Theft From The Person Crimes
15. Bicycle Theft Crimes

Most Common Crimes In Birmingham

According to Crimerate, last year Birmingham’s overall crime rate was 137 crimes per 1,000 people. This was 16% higher than West Midland’s own crime rate, which came in at 118 crimes per 1,000.

Many crimes threaten Birmingham’s safety. Some of the most common crimes committed are:

• Robbery
• Vehicle Crime
• Burglary
• Weapon Possession
• Violent Crime
• Other Theft
• Public Order Crime
• Shoplifting
• Criminal Damage And Arson
• Theft From Person
• Drugs
• Anti-Social Behaviour Crimes
• Bicycle Theft
• Other Crimes

To get an idea of what each individual crime is really like, we’ll be reviewing crime statistics for Plumplot.

Violent Crimes

Violent crime is a very broad designation, making it difficult to pinpoint what is and isn’t a violent crime, in general, this consists of anything which would inflict some kind of pain on someone else or the threat of such. This is only just above average which is a very positive sign given that large cities like Birmingham typically have this as more of a rampant issue. At the moment, violent crimes are Birmingham’s most common crime and make up more than 40% of all crimes committed in the city.

Vehicle Crimes

Vehicle crimes include things like stealing or weaponizing vehicles, leading to once again, another worrying crime. At the moment, vehicle crimes make up 9.4% of all crimes committed in Birmingham.

Anti-Social Behaviour Crimes

Anti-social behaviour is anything which disrupts or impedes the general populous, things like loud noises, loitering and public indecency would come under this category. At the moment, anti-social behaviour crimes make up 7.7% of crimes in Birmingham.

Criminal Damage And Arson Crimes

Criminal damage and arson are what it says on the tin, any malicious act of damage to a property or premise be it through the use of fire or other methods comes under this. As Birmingham is a densely populated area, this may explain why this is slightly lower than average due to how a potential fire or act of damage could spread. These types of crimes make up 7.2% of Birmingham crimes.

Other Theft Crimes

Other theft just constitutes all other instances whereby someone has taken something from someone else that doesn’t strictly fall into robbery or burglary. These types of crimes make up 7.1% of all crimes reported in Birmingham.

Shoplifting Crimes

Shoplifting is simply defined as the act of stealing products from a shop without paying for them, this is seen to be slightly below the national average so shopkeepers can rest a little easier. Shoplifting crimes make up 6.8% of crimes committed in Birmingham.

Public Order Crimes

Public order crime is defined as “crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently” and so with it being below the national average, it is easy to see that this isn’t too much of an issue in Birmingham. Public order crimes make up 6.5% of all crimes reported in Birmingham.

Burglary Crimes

Burglary is defined as stealing items from someone’s property or premises. This means that residents living in and around the Birmingham area may have to install some security measures on their property to ensure they aren’t victims. Burglary crimes make up 5.5% of Birmingham’s overall crimes.

Robbery Crimes

Robbery crimes are defined as the use or expected use of force in order to steal something from someone directly. This is over double the national average of cases and obviously represents a large problem. Robbery crimes make up 2.6% of all crimes committed in Birmingham.

Drug Crimes

Despite the intense nightlife, it appears that drug use isn’t nearly as much of an issue in Birmingham as in a lot of other places around the UK, this act of criminal activity covers the possession or consumption of any drugs classified as illegal. Drug crimes make up 2.2% of all crimes committed in Birmingham.

Possession Of Weapons

Possession of weapons crime includes people carrying anything from a knife to a firearm. These types of crimes make up 1.8% of all crimes committed in Birmingham.

Other Crime

As you might expect, other crime consists of any other act of criminal activity that isn’t strictly defined by one of the mentioned categories. Whilst there isn’t a hard and fast verdict on what other crime strictly “is”, it does allow for the filing and management of anomalous acts of criminal activity. Other crimes make up 1.6% of all crimes committed in Birmingham.

Theft From The Person

Antisocial behaviour is anything which disrupts or impedes the general populous, things like loud noises, loitering and public indecency would come under this category.

Whilst robbery is theft from someone using or implying the use of force, theft from the person instead covers all the more subtle ways of stealing from someone including pickpocketing or taking their items when they aren’t looking. Theft from the person crimes make up 1.1% of Birmingham’s crimes.

Bicycle Theft

Finally comes bicycle theft, sitting at a measly 0.6% of all crimes committed in Birmingham. At the moment, bicycles in Birmingham are generally safe from the hands of prying thieves.

To keep updated with all the latest West Midlands news head over to our news page where you can find articles about the crime rate in Wolverhampton and how to stay safe in Birmingham.