Crime by young people doubles in Leamington
A recent Freedom of Information (FOI) has revealed a rise in student-caused crimes at night-time in Leamington Spa.
It saw 116 night incidents of police intervention, including assault, harassment and violent disorder. Crime caused by people aged between 18 and 24 has almost doubled in the past year.
Overall, there have been 236 cases of night-time violence by young aggressors recorded in Leamington between 2013 and 2015.
When including all age groups, this number rises to 1382 crimes committed between the hours of 10pm and 6am.
In many of these cases, alcohol is an event-aggravating factor. In total, 73% of all night crimes committed in Leamington between 2013 and 2015 included a drunk aggressor. For people between the ages of 18 and 24, alcohol was a factor in crimes nearly nine times out of ten.
Crime caused by people aged between 18 and 24 has almost doubled in the past year.
An Erasmus student, Valerio Masini, noted that he did not like roaming the streets of Leamington at night, especially in comparison to his hometown, because of the state of other people around him.
He stated: “I felt safe walking at night because I was with other people. If I had been alone, I would have not felt safe knowing that everybody was drunk.”
He was also “not really” surprised at the statistics concerning intoxicated aggressors.
The FOI also revealed that a disproportionate amount of crimes are caused by students. Despite representing 8% of the residents in Warwickshire, people in this age bracket are responsible for nearly 14% of crime at night.
Similarly, Leamington Spa is responsible for a sixth of Warwickshire’s crimes, despite making up only one tenth of its population.
For people between the ages of 18 and 24, alcohol was a factor in crimes nearly nine times out of ten.
It was recently reported that there are 5,200 students in Royal Leamington Spa, out of approximately 8,000 people between the ages of 18-24.
Nevertheless, Leamington is reputed to be safer than Coventry by Warwick students. According to a recent survey by the Boar, the majority of people rated Coventry as three out of five in terms of safety, whereas Leamington was rated four out of five.
Additionally, 66% of all respondents had seen a physical fight at night, especially on campus for events such as Pop! and Skool Dayz.
The survey also revealed that students hardly ever saw the police get involved when fights got out of order.
Infographic: Lily Pickard
Comments (1)
This is interesting and as a long time resident of Leamington Old town and an SoLAR activist it presents a worrying picture. I’m that last person to want to see any action to close down pub and clubs at night however residents do need a better deal from those younger people who cause the problems, some, but not all, are students. We as residents of south Leamington are very aware that it is unfair to blame all who are students however, with the best will in the world, the early hours can be pretty desperate when people start their journey home at 2 and 3am singing shouting, screaming and generally making huge amounts of noise. Many times members of my family have been woken up and then found it hard to get to sleep and went to work sick with tiredness. To be fair I also had students on our street make complaints that this noise has affected them (and no doubt their studies).
Our own Freedom of information request found that we now have over 5,000 students living in Leamington Spa with the greater number living in the south of the town. This is bound to have an impact on the quality of life for residents. If 14% of this group cause problems with crime and disorder that is a significant number.
Well done Boar for presenting these figures.
My advise for continuing or new students who plan to come to Leamington to live; get to know who is on your street, understand the system for rubbish disposal, try to be quiet when walking home. Planning a party? Great but give your neighbours some warning and don’t have them every weekend. Get involved with the community you are living in and don’t just hang out there and move on without a care. finally .. want some late night listening in your room? Please put those expensive ‘Beats’ on your ears – then you can list to your hearts content at whatever level without your neighbours having to do the same!