Crime - NZ versus UK

Nottingham, England is now apparently the most dangerous city in the UK.

Nottingham is the most dangerous city in England and Wales with a crime rate four times greater than the safest towns such as Southend and Poole, according to a study released today.

According to the public services think tank Reform, Nottingham had 115 crimes per 1000 people in 2005 compared to just 30 in Southend, Essex and 32 in Poole, Dorset.

Nottingham also had a far higher crime level than areas of similar size such as Wolverhampton (49 crimes per 1000 people) and Reading (43 per 1000).

So how do we compare. These are the 2005 recorded crimes per 1,000 for the Wellington region;

Kapiti-Mana 80
Lower Hutt 92
Upper Hutt 105
Wairarapa 103
Wellington 91

Counties Manukau region;
Central 139
East 71
South 109
West 128

Canterbury region;
Central 283 (Holy Cow!)
Mid South 74
Northern 69
Southern 67

Go here if you want to see other regions.

On paper we are looking considerably more dangerous than the UK. Then again, it is entirely possible that we are simply recording more crime or (less likely) measuring different types of crime.