Cambridge’s colleges can now be ranked for the number of crimes occurring in their postcode, thanks to statistics published by Cambridge police which showed a significant rise in recorded crime since 2013.

The figures, published by Cambridgeshire Constabulary, show that overall crime in the city (as recorded by the police) has risen by 13 per cent to a total of 5,484 reported crimes in 2014.

Among the largest increases was violent crime, increasing by 46 per cent to over 2,000 incidents last year, despite several new measures being implemented by police in an attempt to drive down alcohol-related crime in the city centre.

Recorded sex crimes have increased significantly: last year saw a 137 per cent increase in the number of recorded sex offences, from 84 incidents to 199, with the number of rapes accounted for by police nearly doubling from 37 to 72.

The CB1 postcode, covering Hughes Hall, the Grafton Centre and the police station, saw the most crime of any Cambridge postcode last year. Of the 1,737 reported incidents, 621 crimes were violent, 376 were cases of criminal damage and 288 were burglaries.

The CB1 postcode was also the site of the most rapes, cases of vehicle crime and drug-related offences of any Cambridge postcode. CB1 contains Christ's Pieces, the site of the alleged rape that made headlines in November after two Libyan soldiers were charged with the offence.

CB4 had 1,598 reported crimes in 2014. From a total of 1,558 crimes in 2013, increases in the number of criminal damage cases and the doubling of sexual offences meant that the postcode, which covers no Cambridge colleges, saw a high year-on-year growth in crime as well.

The CB2 area, covering fifteen colleges from Christ’s to Homerton and Trinity Hall, was third overall for crimes in 2014. The postcode, which also covers colleges such as King’s, Emmanuel and St John’s, saw 576 violent crimes last year in addition to 292 burglaries, 149 drug-related offences and 164 cases of criminal damage.

Covering Jesus College, Jesus Green and some areas south of the river, CB5 had the fourth most crime last year. Its total of 646 was approximately a third of the total number of crimes seen in CB1.

Despite covering 14 colleges, the CB3 postcode saw the least crime of any Cambridge area last year. Spanning both older colleges such as Queens’ and Magdalene, and newer ones such as Churchill and Robinson, the postcode saw only 366 crimes in 2014, up from 310 in 2013. It had the lowest number of crimes in every category – across violent, drug and vehicle crime, burglaries, sex offences and rapes. 

Commenting on the figures, Detective Chief Inspector Lorraine Parker said that “We are looking at Market Ward as a city centre area and Abbey Ward as a residential area to see what we can do to tackle violent crime. It’s about a different way of looking at the offence to see what works." 

She went on to say that “Cambridge [today] is a very different place as regards crime to say the 1990s when we would see a lot of armed robberies and burglary. Crime is falling but we are not being complacent."