Chatteris Crime Rate December 2023 | Monthly Statistics

For a population of 12,951, the 39 crimes recorded in Chatteris during December 2023 equate to a crime rate of 3.0 per 1,000 residents—58.3% below the UK average of 7.2 per 1,000. This stark contrast highlights the area’s relative safety, even as seasonal factors such as Christmas shopping, extended dark hours, and holiday-related absences from homes create conditions that may influence crime patterns. The breakdown of incidents reveals a significant dominance of violent crimes, which accounted for 53.9% of all reported offences, followed by anti-social behaviour (15.4%) and criminal damage and arson (7.7%). These figures are consistent with Chatteris’s character as a small built-up area within Fenland, where community cohesion and limited urban density may contribute to lower levels of property crime. The presence of violent offences, however, may be partly explained by the seasonal context of December, when social gatherings and alcohol consumption—common during the festive period—could heighten the risk of disputes escalating into physical altercations. Property crimes, including burglary and shoplifting, remain far below both the UK average and their own historical trends, suggesting that Chatteris’s low population density and limited retail footprint may act as natural deterrents to such crimes. The overall profile, while showing a slight 14.4% increase from November, remains firmly within a range that is significantly safer than the national picture, with violent crimes in particular continuing to fall well below UK averages. This combination of factors—seasonal influences, local demographics, and geographic context—illustrates a community where crime, while not absent, is consistently managed at a level far below the national norm.

December 2023 saw notable shifts in crime patterns, with possession of weapons, drugs, and shoplifting each increasing by 100% compared to November. These spikes, though small in absolute terms, may partly explain the rise in violent crime, which accounted for 53.9% of all reported incidents. Violent crimes in Chatteris remain 39% below the UK average of 2.6 per 1,000, illustrating the area’s continued divergence from national trends. Conversely, other theft and burglary each dropped by 50%, suggesting a possible seasonal dip in property-related offences. The breakdown also reveals that anti-social behaviour (15.4% of total crimes) and criminal damage (7.7%) remain well below UK averages, reinforcing Chatteris’s generally low levels of disorder. For residents, the sharp increase in shoplifting—now at 0.2 per 1,000—may signal a seasonal trend linked to Christmas shopping pressures, though this remains a small proportion of overall crime.

In December 2023, Chatteris saw a 14.4% increase in its crime rate compared to November, rising from 2.6 to 3.0 per 1,000 residents. While this marks a slight upward trend, the area remains significantly safer than the UK average, which stands at 7.2 per 1,000. On a daily basis, the 39 reported crimes over 31 days equate to roughly one crime per day—a figure that, while notable, reflects a low level of criminal activity in a built-up area. Monthly exposure reveals that, over the course of December, one reported crime occurred for roughly every 332 residents. This statistic, when contextualised against Chatteris’s population of 12,951, underscores the relatively low frequency of incidents in a community that, despite the seasonal factors of December, maintains a crime profile far below national benchmarks. The population-scaled perspective further highlights that, even with the 14.4% monthly increase, the number of crimes remains minimal in relation to the size of the local population.