Do we really live in the UK’s safest city?

Murder, theft and the use of a JCB to literally carry away a cash machine. It all went down in Norwich this summer.

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In short: No.

This year there has been increased reports of criminal activity across Norwich, and with national reports of the Norfolk Police’s failure to proactively release evidence in criminal investigations, questions have been raised.

This is not to say that Norwich is a dangerous place. It is not London … but neither is it rural Hampshire.

Norwich is no longer the area with the lowest crime rate in the UK, and over the last few years, the Office of National Statistics and local crime surveys even dispute whether Norwich is England’s safest place.

This summer Norwich saw Castlemall Food Court vandalised costing £20,000 of damage, a man in tights stealing phones, another drug raid and arrest in Bowthorpe, 3 Colman Road Barclay’s ATMs not only tapered but assaulted by a stolen JCB, and another unprovoked attack on a man outside Norwich Train Station.

This is in addition to national cases such as the arrest and conviction of the Norwich organised crime group, responsible for the distribution of over £1.5 million worth of heroin across the UK for over 10 months, or the conviction of yet another suspect in the murder inquiry of Norwich Pensioner Derek Blake. Who could also forget the investigation into the Norfolk Broads Boating Tragedy and subsequent murder inquiry?

However, most acts in Norwich and Norfolk are petty crimes involving domestic burglaries for old Nokias and £17 purse money, indecent exposure, apparent Scout Hut raids, breaking bicycle laws, unconsented biting and arson attacks on Post boxes.

Despite all these real life crimes across the summer, Norwich is still one of the safest student populated places in the Country, and believe it or not, it is still below the national average crime rate. We just happened to have had more crime publicised recently.

So, lock your doors and windows at night and try and keep your clothes on. Don’t grow suspicious plants at your home, don’t randomly bite people in the street or think you can in any way, subtly steal an ATM with a bright yellow and (coincidentally) stolen JCB!

Maybe then the crime statistics will show that Norwich isn’t that bad, it’s just had a particularly rough summer.