Is your shared student house in a uni crime hot spot?

Is your shared student house in a uni crime hot spot?

19:37 PM, 21st June 2012, About 12 years ago

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Students living at universities in London and Manchester face the worst crime rates – according to a survey of offences reported to police over the last year.

The figures were compiled by The Complete University Guide for the year to May 2012. They list 103 further learning institutions by numbers of burglary, robbery and violent crimes including sex crimes.

Thousands of students live in private shared houses where landlords are responsible for the costs of damage following break-ins.

For landlords who want to check if their properties are in a crime hot-spot, the complete breakdown by offence and university can be viewed here.

London Metropolitan has the worst record for reported crime – including the most robberies and violent offences.

King’s College, London comes second, followed by London Southbank.

The three London universities also make up the worst three for robberies.

Buckingham, Aberystwyth and Durham had the lowest overall crime rates, while students at Gloucester and the University of Wales, Newport, reported the fewest violent offences.

Most burglaries were reported at Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan, while the lowest figures were at Aberystwyth and Trinity St David’s.

Guide founder Dr Bernard Kingston based the figures on police crime reports affecting all victims within three miles of a university main campus. No separate statistics for crimes against students are published.

The guide estimates a third of students are victims of crime, mainly of theft and burglary offences, and about a fifth of robberies happen in the first six weeks of the academic year.

London Metropolitan claims the figures are misleading.

“The guide only based its analysis on the crime rates around the three-mile radius of the Aldgate hub; however, 50% of our students are located at our Holloway hub with the other half of students based at Aldgate and at Moorgate,” said a spokesman.

“The analysis should have been based on the Holloway Road area, the university’s official address since 2010, and not the Aldgate hub.”

The university also claims a recent survey of 2,000 final year students did not reveal any concerns of personal safety around London Met.


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