Gun and knife crime is a key issue in Merseyside, with the county experiencing a number of high-profile weapon-related incidents over the last few years.
Now, Wirral’s weapons hotspots can be revealed, with new data showing the neighbourhoods which have seen the most people found by Merseyside Police to be carrying weapons.
The data is for the period from December 2023 to November 2024 - which is the most recent time period for which the figures are available - with the rankings based on the number of people found in possession of weapons, per 1,000 residents.
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The Wirral peninsula is divided into 42 Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs) - or neighbourhoods - and the figures refer to where people were caught with offensive weapons, not where the incidents were reported from.
We have listed the 11 neighbourhoods in Wirral with the most incidents, in the gallery below. All photos are for illustrative purposes only and figures do not refer to any individual buildings or streets.
1. Birkenhead Central
In the Birkenhead Central area, there were 3.8 neighbourhood-level incidents of possession of a weapon per 1,000 residents. | Google
2. Birkenhead South
In the Birkenhead South area, there were 2.3 neighbourhood-level incidents of possession of a weapon per 1,000 residents. | Google
3. Bidston Hill
In the Bidston Hill area, there were 1.8 neighbourhood-level incidents of possession of a weapon per 1,000 residents. | Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
4. Tranmere
In the Tranmere area, there were 1.6 neighbourhood-level incidents of possession of a weapon per 1,000 residents. | Google