Crime in Numbers - Latest Statistics

At the end of April 2015, the 2014 Crime Survey for England & Wales was released. Unlike police recorded crime, the survey interviews around 50,000 households to find out their experiences. The data may include crimes that weren't reported to the police, so the statistics differ to recent police-reported crime stats.

Which stats are most trustworthy? Opinions differ - and politics plays its part. While the survey is recording real-life experiences, it is only interviewing a percentage of the UK population and extrapolating the results. Police-recorded statistics are based on every incident reported - but not everyone reports to the police when they've been a victim of crime. Whatever the case, the fact is that millions of people each year are affected, so the more we can do to protect ourselves and avoid incidents the better.

Check our our Crime Stats Infographic to get a summary of some of the facts and figures from 2012 to 2014 - and an interesting one about how many of us believe them.