The most dangerous areas for crime in England and Wales are revealed - how safe is Liverpool?

Official data has been released that reveals the areas across England and Wales that have the highest crime rates.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has compiled crime statistics for the year leading to June 2021.

Merseyside was among the the top five areas of the country for crimes per 1,000 people. You can see full details below.

Figures found that Cleveland, Yorkshire is the region with the highest number of crimes in proportion to its population, recording 114.9 crimes per 1,000 residents.

West Yorkshire Police had to deal with the second most with 111.6 crimes.

Kent is the only southern police force that makes the top 10 list.

Across both England and Wales, the most frequently reported crime was violence against a person, with more than 1.8 million reported.

1.35 million theft offences were recorded, as well as 716,521 cases of violence without injury.

There were 673,605 reports of stalking and harassment across the two nations, with a record number of rape crimes at 61,158 were noted.

In total, it is estimated that there were 12.7 million offences altogether in the year ending June 2021 - nearly 9% of adults have been affected.

How safe is Liverpool?

Despite having a reputation of being one of the safest large metropolitan cities, recent government statistics challenge this.

The crime rate in the city and Merseyside as a whole is one of the worst across England and Wales in the year leading up to June 2021.

Figures show that Merseyside is the fifth ranked region across both nations with an average of 96.7 crimes per 1,000 residents.

In regards to violent crime, the county is ranked seventh across England and Wales by the same measurements with 38.8 cases.

Merseyside tops the standings as the region where lives are most likely to be affected by drug crime, with a rate of 8.9 narcotic related crimes per 1,000 people recorded.

In the last calendar year leading to November 2021, over 61.1 thousand crimes were reported to Merseyside Police - which is a 12.5% increase on the 12 months prior.

Merseyside Police response

Deputy Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, Ian Critchley, said: “Our officers and staff work tirelessly every day to ensure Merseyside Police delivers the best possible service for our communities with the resources we have available.

“It’s pleasing to see year-on-year reductions in certain crime types particularly burglary, which we know can have a huge impact on victims.

“We have analysed the increased levels of recorded violent crime, and much of this can be attributed to improved recording of crime as well as incidents where in many cases, although violence has been used, it has resulted in either a minor injury or no injury at all.

“We have also driven constant improvement in recording crime, and have enacted recommendations made following an HMICFRS inspection in January 2021. As a result the force has recorded significantly more public order and harassment offences, which has had an impact on figures compared with the previous 12-month period.

“Our officers will continue to target perpetrators and will support and work with anyone subjected to stalking or harassment, violence, domestic abuse, so we can identify offenders and put them before the courts.”