Suffolk seventh safest place in England, new data shows

Each county has been assigned a score using Home Office data based on the levels of crime against the person, property crime and drugs and guns crime and an evaluation of police performance within each of these categories.

Suffolk scored 8.09 while the highest possible score is 10 and the lowest, meaning safest, is one. 

The report says the UK’s safest county is Hertfordshire.

Despite this score, Suffolk still has crime issues and last month Suffolk police made 13 arrests in one week as part of Operation Sceptre, the national anti-knife crime push.

On top of this, more than 1,200 knives and bladed items were recovered from amnesty bins across the county during the period of the operation.

However, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk Tim Passmore welcomed the report.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk Tim Passmore (Image: Archant)

He said: “I am very pleased to see this report which shows Suffolk is the sixth safest county in the country. It confirms to me what I already know, and that is we are very lucky to live in such a safe place.

“Every area has its own challenges and Suffolk is no different, but compared to the big metropolitan areas crime levels are relatively low, which is good news for us all.

“Keeping us safe and secure is not just the responsibility of the police but the Constabulary does play an important part. Suffolk has a good police force which, despite being one of the poorest funded in the country, does a good job for the people of Suffolk.”

He added: “We all have a shared responsibility to look after each other and do what we can to prevent crime – something Suffolk is very good at and I like to think that’s one of the reasons why Suffolk is considered safer than many places.

"Equally there is no room for complacency so we must keep working together.”

Click here to see the full report.