Blackburn with Darwen’s crime rate fell for the third month in a row at the end of 2023.

Data from police.uk shows 1,466 crimes were committed in the borough in December, a slight drop of 1.27 per cent from the 1,485 crimes committed in November.

November’s total was a drop of 10 per cent compared to October.

Violence and sexual offences once again topped the list for December, as it has done in the previous months – and it recorded a slight increase against the November stats.

READ MORE: Every crime in Blackburn with Darwen in November mapped

Using the data, it is possible to map exactly where each crime took place in the borough and determine how many instances of each crime there was.

Of the 14 crimes listed in the data, half reported increases and another half reported decreases.

The biggest percentage increase was theft was person which went up by 200 per cent from two instances in November to six in December.

The other crimes changed as follows:

  • Violence and sexual offences – 493 (Nov) – 539 (Dec) – up 9.33 per cent
  • Anti-social behaviour – 368 (Nov) – 314 (Dec) – down 14.67 per cent
  • Other theft – 100 (Nov) – 110 (Dec) – up 10 per cent
  • Shoplifting – 144 (Nov) – 102 (Dec) – down 29.16 per cent
  • Criminal damage and arson – 100 (Nov) – 87 (Dec) – down 13 per cent
  • Vehicle crime – 61 (Nov) – 79 (Dec) – up 29.50 per cent
  • Public order – 77 (Nov) – 74 (Dec) – down 3.89 per cent
  • Burglary – 52 (Nov) – 73 (Dec) – up 40.38 per cent
  • Drugs – 27 (Nov) – 25 (Dec) – down 7.40 per cent
  • Other crime – 30 (Nov) – 23 (Dec) – down 23.33 per cent
  • Possession of weapons – 12 (Nov) – 18 (Dec) – up 50 per cent
  • Bicycle theft – 4 (Nov) – 9 (Dec) – up 125 per cent
  • Robbery – 15 (Nov) – 7 (Dec) – down 53.33 per cent

 

In the rest of East Lancashire, three other boroughs reported decreases in their crime rate in December, while two posted increases.

The biggest drop was in Pendle – the only borough to have gone up in November – which went down by 9.88 per cent from 759 recorded crimes to 684.

Also falling was Burnley, from 1,101 in November to 1,044 in December, a drop of 5.17 per cent; and Hyndburn dropped from 5.49 per cent, from 855 in November to 808 in December.

Ribble Valley posted a small increase of 3.73 per cent going from 268 crimes to 278.

Lastly, Rossendale marginally increased in December, going up by 1.85 per cent from 538 crimes to 548.