Portsmouth compares poorly with the Hampshire and England averages for many of the measures associated with an increased likelihood of violence across family, accommodation, employment, income, education, young people at risk, mental health and substance use domains.
Portsmouth also has a relatively high level of deprivation and an overall crime rate that is higher than the Hampshire and England averages. Nationally there has been an increase in police recorded violence over the last decade, but other data sources, such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales and hospital admissions for violence show a downward or stable trend over this time.
This suggests that the increase in police recorded violence has been driven by better identification of offences, increased willingness of victims to report and police recording practices.
In 2022/23, Portsmouth had higher rates of violence with injury, serious violence, robbery, and possession of a weapon than the HIPS and England averages, but similar rates to Southampton.
There were 1,035 serious violence offences in the Portsmouth in 2022/23, which accounted for 20% of the total serious violence in the HIPS area.
Portsmouth’s rate of serious violence was the second highest compared to other districts and was substantially higher than the HIPS average.
Levels of serious violence in Portsmouth have remained similar to 2021/22, however this is higher than pre-Covid levels (for example, this is 12%, n112 higher than 2019/20).
The main offences that make up serious violence are possession of a weapon (40%), violence with injury (30%) and robbery of personal property (26%). The recent increases in police recorded serious violence have driven by increases in possession of a weapon offences.
There has also been an increase in homicides since 2021/22 but is too soon to know whether this is the beginning of an increasing trend or just an unusually higher year.
Serious violence is concentrated in the City Centre spreading up to Buckland neighbourhood, west towards the docks, east to Fratton Park and Milton Parks and south to Palmerston Road, Southsea Common and the seafront from Clarence Pier to just past Southsea Castle.
64% of serious violence happens in public places, with 9% linked to licenced premises. Also 11% of serious violence involved alcohol use by the suspect and 6% involved drug use by the suspect. Where the relationship was recorded, serious violence most commonly took place between strangers (37%, n279), followed by victimless crimes110 (29%, n217), acquaintances (18%, n138), ex-partners (6%, n46), partners (5%, n41) and family 3% (n24). 12% were flagged as domestic abuse related.
Most suspects are male (84%) and 41% were under 25 years, and there has been an increase in 10-17 year olds since 2021/22. 20% of suspects were linked to more than one offence, and most were male (88%) and the peak age group was 10-17years (36%). Males were also more likely to be the victims (52%) compared to females (17%), although 31% of offences recorded no victim details, which is common for possession of a weapon offences. Male victims tended to be younger than females. The peak age groups for male victims were 18-24 years (25%) and 25-34 years (21%) compared with 24-34 years (27%) and 35-44 years (24%) for female victims. There were increases in suspects and victims aged 10-17 years compared with 2021/22.
