Crime rates drop in Tyne and Wear during pandemic in all but one area
Written by Benjamin Lightfoot on 8th February 2022
A recent study shows that crime rates across Tyne and Wear have dropped significantly amid the two-year Covid pandemic in all but one area of Gateshead.
Across the Northumbria Police region, only Inner West Gateshead, which includes the village of Whickham, saw an increase in reported crime rates between December 2019 – the month before the emergence of Covid – and December 2021.
Figures show that 332 reports of crime were recorded in Inner West Gateshead in December 2021 – up from 290 reports in the same month two years earlier.
Over 56 per cent of those reports were for violent or sexual offences
Kevin McClurey, the Gateshead Independent group councillor for Dunston Hill and Whickham East said: “The police need to be aware of what is happening and I feel that the police cannot do much about this situation as there is too much petty crime occurring.
“Is it a good thing with numbers increasing as it shows more people are reporting crimes or is it bad not enough people are reporting crimes in other areas?”
In contrast to Inner West Gateshead, areas such as Newcastle central, Gateshead and North Shields each saw nearly 100 fewer crime reports in December 2021 than in December 2019, while Sunderland West saw around a 30 per cent drop in crimes/
Whickham resident Fiona Todd said: “There is a lot of anti-social behaviour in the retail park area of the Metrocentre on a night time.
“Large groups of kids are just out to cause as much bother as they can.”
If you need to report a crime in your area contact 999 for an emergency, non-emergency phone call contact 101 or use https://www.police.uk/pu/contact-the-police/ to contact the police.
