The available information relates to offences recorded by the police in England and Wales and is given in the table. Forces have been classified as urban or rural in accordance with ‘A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods’ (ACORN) guidance as used in Home Office Statistical Bulletin 01/02 entitled ‘Rural Crime in England and Wales’.
In addition to those forces classified as urban or rural, those forces classified as ‘middling’ have also been included in the table for completeness.
Number of offences Violence against the person Other offences All offences 2006-07 Urban1 574,526 2,481,410 3,055,936 Rural2 153,137 618,554 771,691 Middling3 302,372 1,221,154 1,523,526 Total 1,030,035 4,321,118 5,351,153 2007-08 Urban1 523,243 2,260,520 2,783,763 Rural2 138,539 567,722 706,261 Middling3 283,792 1,109,482 1,393,274 Total 945,574 3,937,724 4,883,298 2008-09 Urban1 496,442 2,143,503 2,639,945 Rural2 128,751 541,891 670,642 Middling3 262,749 1,064,265 1,327,014 Total 887,942 3,749,659 4,637,601 1 Comprises the police force areas of Cheshire, City of London, Cleveland, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire, Lancashire, Metropolitan Police, Merseyside, Northumbria, Nottinghamshire, South Wales, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Surrey, West Midlands, West Yorkshire. 2 Comprises the police force areas of Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Devon and Cornwall, Durham, Dyfed-Powys, Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Wales, North Yorkshire, Suffolk, West Mercia and Wiltshire. 3 Comprises the police force areas of Avon and Somerset, Bedfordshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, Essex, Gwent, Hampshire, Humberside, Kent, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Sussex, Thames Valley, Warwickshire.