So what is your area?
In the UK, when people say “my area,” they are generally referring to the geographical region or neighborhood where they live or work. This could include a specific town, city, or borough, or it could refer to a more localized area such as a particular street, housing estate, or commercial district.Area is a vague term and tends to mean different thing to different people. On UKCrimeStats, it’s easiest to search by postcode or postcode district (the first half of a postcode) or just your town or neighbourhood name. If you’re still not sure and you are in the area you want, just press go and let UKCrimeStats find the area for you.
But what does crime rate really mean?
Crime rate is a measure of crimes per 1000 residents in a given area. It’s a way of comparing one area to another. It’s quite useful but subject to shortcomings, such as;
i) sometimes a wide variance between a daytime population and residential night time population – think city centres and commuter suburbs
ii) Crime rate is a way of deflating for the impact of population by equalising across a given area – but areas vary in population density and the number of people in a given area. I.e. the more there are, the more likely you are to have crime,whilst your chance of being a victim of crime as a member of that population doesn’t necessarily incrase as the size of the population in that area goes up. So for example, Westminster is the highest crime constituency in the UK, but the daytime population is 10 times the residential one – that’s why it’s by and large very safe to walk around because you would be one part of a very large population in a high crime area.