State of Sheffield report: City has some of lowest rates of violent crime

The State of Sheffield report for 2018, which was launched on Friday, said the city was safe with a 'well-earned reputation' for relatively low crime levels.

It said it had one of the lowest crime rate of the core cities - Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Nottingham - and it also said it was rising lower than most other cities.

The report said: "Sheffield has long held a reputation as a safe a city. The most recent data on crime and safety this perception remains an accurate one across a whole.

"Inclusive growth has gained greater traction and prominence in recent years and features within national policy as part of the drive to build a fairer economy that works for everyone. The prospect of an inclusive economy brings with it the possibility of tackling those social and economic factors that are now understood to be at the root of problems of crime and urban violence.

"Crime rates have been rising across the core cities. Over the past three years, Sheffield has fared relatively well, with a below average nine per cent increase in the crime rate (given as incidents per one-hundred-thousand population), compared to an average 14 per cent increase across the core cities as a whole. This is the second lowest percentage increase of any core city.

"Similarly, when looking at the number of crimes, Sheffield has seen an increase of 10 per over this period, compared with a core city average of 16 per cent. This puts it ranking as fourth

across the two measures when compared to the core cities."

A total of 289,000 offences were recorded between January 2014 and August 2017 - almost half of which (47.2 per cent) related to anti-social behaviour , with vehicle crime making up 12 per cent and violent and sexual offences accounting for 11.2 per cent.

Sheffield is the only city to produce an annual assessment of how it is performing. The State of Sheffield report is produced by the Sheffield City Partnership board and this year's is the seventh to be produced.

It added: "There are a wide range of effective initiatives in Sheffield that aim to improve community safety. One of the most important of these is partnership working on crime and

safety issues across the public, private, and voluntary sectors.

These help to coordinate activity; ensure that appropriate support is available for those impacted by crime and anti-social behaviour; and develop appropriate responses to those individuals and groups committing offences."