Blackburn with Darwen’s crime rate fell for the first time in three months in August.

Data from police.uk shows 1,559 crimes were committed in the borough in August, with violence and sexual offences being replaced at the top of the list by anti-social behaviour.

The overall total of crimes decreased by 9.83 per cent – after May, June, and July all saw gradual increases.

READ MORE: Every crime in Blackburn with Darwen in July 2023 mapped

Using the data, we were able to map exactly where each crime took place within the borough and determine how many instances of each crime there was.

Of the 14 crimes listed in the data, there were five increases and nine decreases.

‘Other crime’ saw the biggest percentage increase, going up by 11.11 per cent from 27 instances to 30.

The remaining crimes changed as follows:

  • Anti-social behaviour – 464 (July) – 501 (August) – up 7.97 per cent
  • Violence and sexual offences – 552 (July) – 479 (August) – down 13.22 per cent
  • Criminal damage and arson – 120 (July) – 118 (August) – down 1.66 per cent
  • Shoplifting – 155 (July) – 107 (August) – down 30.96 per cent
  • Vehicle crime – 93 (July) – 70 (August) – down 24.73 per cent
  • Public order – 76 (July) – 68 (August) – down 10.52 per cent
  • Other theft – 113 (July) – 67 (August) – down 40.70 per cent
  • Burglary – 52 (July) – 42 (August) – down 19.23 per cent
  • Drugs 26 (July) – 28 (August) – up 7.69 per cent
  • Possession of weapons – 19 (July) – 21 (August) – up 10.52 per cent
  • Theft from person – 10 (July) – 11 (August) – up 10 per cent
  • Robbery – 14 (July) – 10 (August) – down 28.57 per cent
  • Bicycle theft 8 (July) – 7 (August) – down 12.5 per cent

Four other East Lancashire boroughs also reported decreases in their crime rates for August.

The biggest drop was in the Ribble Valley – which had seen the sharpest increase last month – going from 348 crimes to 257, a decrease of 26.14 per cent.

Pendle dropped from 855 crimes to 787 (a percentage decrease of 7.95 per cent), Hyndburn dropped by 5.42 per cent from 1,032 crimes to 976, and Rossendale reported a slight decrease from 613 to 608, a total of 0.81 per cent.

The only borough to post an increase was Burnley, which went up from 1,161 to 1,167, a small climb of 0.51 per cent.