SO18 crime rates increase

Crime Rates in SO18 have increased by 14% since 2019.

In 2020, there was a small increase of 3.5%, but this will have undoubtedly been influenced by Covid-19 restrictions.  Since some of the restrictions have been relaxed though, crimes have continued to increase through SO18. 

The biggest increase, as with other areas in Southampton, is antisocial behaviour.  For the area of SO18 alone, antisocial behaviour has increased 103% since 2019.  It’s a common theme in most areas, where youth centres have been closed, that antisocial behaviour is increasing.  We can but hope that the council will take note of this and perhaps try to reverse some of the closures, or find other places for new ones to be opened.  

One of the positives to take from the current stats available, is the fact that burglary (-2.5%) and robberies (-27.7%) have decreased, although with there being on average 21 burglaries a month in 2021 it’s still higher than anyone would like.

With 30 reported crimes relating to the use of a weapon, this is less than half reported in SO19. However, it’s still 30 too many.  Thankfully, there has been a decrease in these crimes since 2020; a decrease we hope will continue in 2022.

We have before expressed our opinions on “knives ruining lives”, especially when it’s reported some of the ages  of those who have been arrested for using weapons.  We can only hope we don’t continue to see an increase in this area. Again, put simply, put the weapons down and settle your differences in another way.  It’s not worth anyone losing their lives over what is often just a trivial dispute.

We’ve included a snippet of crimes between January to October for the past 3 years for SO18.  Let’s hope the CPS can help deter those committing the crimes with suitable punishments, and that the police get the investment required to investigate further.