Tackling violence, including domestic abuse and sexual assault and abuse
Decrease in crime
In 2024 to 2025, compared to the previous year (April 2023 to March 2024) there has been a 7% decrease in the total number of recorded crimes in Coventry. Crime data has been generated from quarterly reports produced by West Midlands Police during the year.
Data can fluctuate so these figures should be treated as provisional. The neighbourhoods with the highest levels of Total Recorded Crime (TRC) were St. Michael’s (23.3% of Total Recorded Crime), followed by Foleshill (8.0% of Total Recorded Crime) and Henley (7.9% of Total Recorded Crime).
Coventry ranked 4th lowest out of 15 areas in its ‘Most Similar Group’ (MSG) for Total Recorded Crime (TRC) rate, with 99.2 crimes per 1,000 population (MSG average – 106.4) during this reporting period.
Coventry accounted for 11.1% of the TRC for the West Midlands force area, ranking 2nd highest out of the 7 local policing areas (LPA). With Coventry being the second largest LPA, this is expected.
The total crime rate in Coventry for April 2024 to March 2025 at 99.2 per 1,000 population was lower than in Birmingham (117.8) and Wolverhampton (107.9) (the most recent data available for these areas, January to December 2024).
The most common offences were ‘Common assault and battery’ with 4,390 offences accounting for 12.3% of TRC, ‘Theft from Shops and Stalls’ with 3,600 offences accounting for 10.0% of TRC and ‘Assault occasioning Actual Bodily Harm’ with 1,902 accounting for 5.3% of TRC.
| Reporting period | Coventry rate | Wolverhampton (data for Jan-Dec 2024) rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 to 2018 | 75.5 | 82.2 |
| 2018 to 2019 | 81.8 | - |
| 2019 to 2020 | 83.2 | 94.4 |
| 2020 to 2021 | 90.8 | 101.2 |
| 2021 to 2022 | 116.4 | 131.5 |
| 2022 to 2023 | 121.5 | 130.8 |
| 2023 to 2024 | 106.8 | 114.3 |
| 2024 to 2025 | 99.2 | 106.0 |
Domestic abuse
Domestic abuse is largely a hidden crime with only 20% of incidents being reported to the police.
There is evidence that independent specialist support and advocacy is vital to the ongoing safety of victim-survivors providing emotional support, safety planning, reducing the risk of harm and improving recovery and outcomes.
Coventry recognises the importance of these services in tackling domestic abuse and that interventions at the earliest opportunity improve outcomes. Ensuring more victim-survivors are receiving the right help at the right time and accessing support from the specialist services is a priority for Coventry.
Coventry now has an Early Intervention Team based at Coventry Central Police station offering support, at the earliest opportunity, to victim-survivors reporting to the police. There is a growing multi-agency network of domestic abuse champions supporting survivors of domestic abuse across Coventry to access specialist support.
The commissioned specialist domestic abuse services have continued to see increased numbers of victims-survivors accessing support including short term and long term interventions and court support.
Since April 2024 there has been an increase in the number of officers investigating Domestic Abuse Crimes in Coventry, an increase in the number of suspects arrested, an increase in positive outcomes and an increase in the use of Domestic Violence Protection Orders.
Case study
A child became known to the exploitation team, Horizon, due to concerns they were being criminally exploited. The child was at significant risk due to an adult whom they were being exploited by having access to firearms.
In addition, there were significant concerns regarding the child’s mothers’ ability to understand said risks and to take appropriate action. Through close work with the Police, Youth Justice Service (YJS), Horizon Team, and the child’s school, a thorough supportive plan was developed.
The plan saw an interim schooling arrangement with the child educated outside of the city, intense work with the child’s mother, allocation of a mentor through St Giles, and intensive disruption by the Police that has seen the perpetrator receive a lengthy custodial sentence.
This plan supported the child to engage with intervention initially via their mentor and then through the YJS, awareness raising work about exploitation was undertaken with the child’s mother, the immediate risks managed through enforcement, and the child was supported back into their main education site.
