is anyone any good at interpreting crime figures

[LaurieFairyCake]

There are 1100+ instances of crime - the largest category is violence and sexual offences (292 crimes reported) and then anti social behaviour (208 crimes)

Where do I start interpreting this data

You can't without more information. You need to at least know the population of the area the stats cover, and the time period over which they were gathered in order to convert them to incidence per head of population per year. In their current form they're meaningless. Could be for the whole of Venezuela since the arrival of the conquistadors for all we know.

You'd also need to know the stats for other local areas, plus regional and national.

If that's 1100+ for a particular area in London, you'd want to look at figures for the whole of the borough, plus the areas immediately adjoining, plus the whole of London. It stands to reason that in areas of high population density, there will be a higher incidence of crime (so no point comparing a London area to average for England/UK), but what you're really trying to work out, I assume, is whether the particular postcode(s) you are looking at are safer or more dangerous than other areas you might consider? Or the area you're currently in?

Don't forget violence and sexual offences will include DV, teenage gang members beating each other up and other incidents in which perpetrator and victim are known to each other and which would happen regardless of location - rather than a random attack by a stranger in broad daylight in the supermarket, for example.

Tbh, you'd be better off looking at local newspapers/news sites/neighbourhood police webpage than just numbers.

Thanks very much for the responses. It's a whole year, a densely populated London area in zone 2. Yes, I do think the violence will be mostly young people related.

I can't find further break downs though no matter how much I search.