A recent crime map highlights Gloucester as the area most affected by crime severity in Gloucestershire. The “crime severity” score evaluates not only the number of crimes but also the seriousness of offences, assigning more weight to violent crimes such as murder and sexual assault compared to minor thefts.
Gloucester tops the county with the highest crime severity score of 19.9, primarily driven by a significant number of violent and sexual offences, which account for over two-thirds of its total score. This places Gloucester at 48th among more than 300 community safety partnership areas in England and Wales, similar to council regions.
Cheltenham ranks second in Gloucestershire with a crime severity score of 13.5, considerably lower than Gloucester’s. Meanwhile, Cotswold emerges as the safest area with a score of just 8.2, followed closely by Tewkesbury at 8.9.
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The average crime severity score across the Gloucestershire police force area is 13.3, which is below the national average for England and Wales.
Unlike simple crime rates that focus on the quantity of offences, crime severity scores provide a clearer picture by factoring in the harm caused by each crime. Scores are influenced by the level of punishment offenders receive, meaning more harmful crimes are weighted more heavily than minor infractions like criminal damage.
Since their introduction in March 2003, crime severity scores across England and Wales have fluctuated — starting at 15.9, declining to a low of 9.3 in 2013, and gradually rising thereafter. The score peaked at 16.4 in March 2023 and currently stands at 16.3.