Arrests

Published 18 March 2019

Last updated 14 May 2019 - see all updates

This page contains a factual mistake

Details can be found on the corrected page.

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• there were 698,737 arrests in 2017/18, a fall of 8% on the previous year – both years’ figures exclude Lancashire Police (see ‘Things you need to know’)
• Black people were over 3 times as likely to be arrested as White people – there were 35 arrests for every 1,000 Black people, and 11 arrests for every 1,000 White people
• overall, men were over 5 times as likely to be arrested as women – there were 22 arrests for every 1,000 men, and 4 arrests for every 1,000 women
• Black women were more than twice as likely to be arrested as White women – there were 7 arrests for every 1,000 Black women, and 3 arrests for every 1,000 White women

Things you need to know

When looking at arrest rates by area, it’s important to know that someone arrested in a particular area may not necessarily live in that area.

Population estimates for police force areas are based on permanent residents of that area (and do not include visitors), as reported in the 2011 Census. It is likely that the populations have changed since 2011 and these changes are not accounted for in the figures. Figures that compare the total population with the number of arrests should be treated with caution and be considered estimates only.

You can see the number of arrests by area and ethnicity if you download the data

Where someone's ethnicity wasn't identified or known, they have been classed as 'unknown'. The overall rate given in this data (presented under the ‘All’ in the charts and tables) includes people recorded as ‘Unknown’. Over the period studied, the percentage of people arrested whose ethnicity wasn't known ranged from 2% to 7%.

Due to changes in data collection:

• Staffordshire police force were unable to provide complete data for 2006/07
• Suffolk police force were unable to provide complete data for 2006/07 and 2007/08
• Cambridgeshire police force were unable to provide detailed ethnicity data for 2015/16
• Humberside police force were unable to provide complete data for 2014/15
• police forces in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk were unable to provide complete data for 2015/16
• Lancashire police force were unable to provide any data on arrests in 2016/17 and 2017/18

Therefore, some data has been estimated for these forces, but no estimates were made for Lancashire Police in 2017/18.

Due to the small number of people living in the City of London compared with the numbers who visit, its police force has been excluded from the analysis.

What the data measures

This data measures the number of arrests for 'notifiable offences', which are offences for which the police must complete a crime report. Data is broken down by ethnicity, gender and area.

The arrest rate is calculated as the number of people arrested from a particular ethnic group out of every 1,000 people from the same group.

Estimates of rates per 1,000 people in charts and tables are given to the nearest whole number. Comparisons between different ethnic groups have been calculated using unrounded data

Data comes from the 43 police forces in England and Wales.

Population data is taken from the 2011 Census.

The ethnic categories used in this data

The data is broken down into the following 5 broad groups:

• Asian/Asian British
• Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
• Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
• White
• Other ethnic group (including Chinese)

There’s a separate category for people whose ethnicity was unknown.

2. By ethnicity

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2017/18
• Source: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics

Arrest rate per 1,000 people, and number of arrests, by ethnicity

Ethnicity	Rate per 1,000 people	Number of arrests
All	13	698,737
Asian	12	46,276
Black	35	65,919
Mixed	25	23,805
White	11	505,780
Other including Chinese	9	11,075
Unknown	N/A*	45,882

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Arrests By ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

• there were 698,737 arrests in England and Wales in 2017/18 (excluding the Lancashire police force area), at a rate of 13 arrests per 1,000 people
• there were 62,501 fewer arrests in 2017/18 compared with the previous year, a fall of 8% (excluding Lancashire Police from both years)
• Black people were over 3 times as likely to be arrested as White people – there were 35 arrests for every 1,000 Black people, and 11 arrests for every 1,000 White people
• people with Mixed ethnicity were over twice as likely to be arrested as White people – there were 25 arrests for every 1,000 people with Mixed ethnicity, and 11 arrests for every 1,000 White people

3. By ethnicity over time

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2006/07 to 2016/17
• Source: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics

Arrest rate per 1,000 people, and number of arrests, by ethnicity over time

	All		Asian		Black		Mixed		White		Other including Chinese		Unknown
Time	All Arrest rate	All Number of arrests	Asian Arrest rate	Asian Number of arrests	Black Arrest rate	Black Number of arrests	Mixed Arrest rate	Mixed Number of arrests	White Arrest rate	White Number of arrests	Other inc Chinese Arrest rate	Other inc Chinese Number of arrests	Unknown Arrest rate	Unknown Number of arrests
2006/07	26	1,474,843	18	69,591	56	105,145	43	40,882	24	1,133,468	16	19,408	N/A*	106,349
2007/08	26	1,475,266	20	74,755	59	109,206	43	40,726	24	1,170,527	17	21,103	N/A*	58,949
2008/09	26	1,462,139	21	78,422	60	111,271	42	40,256	24	1,178,536	17	20,931	N/A*	32,723
2009/10	25	1,385,322	20	78,124	60	110,977	42	40,133	23	1,103,206	17	20,249	N/A*	32,633
2010/11	24	1,353,740	21	79,540	61	113,085	43	40,779	22	1,075,562	16	19,556	N/A*	25,218
2011/12	22	1,225,123	19	72,361	55	102,326	39	37,516	20	972,938	14	17,289	N/A*	22,693
2012/13	19	1,068,823	17	65,277	47	88,540	34	32,587	18	844,957	13	15,398	N/A*	22,064
2013/14	18	1,024,969	17	64,376	46	86,337	33	31,223	17	803,069	12	14,737	N/A*	25,227
2014/15	17	947,658	16	60,737	45	83,519	31	29,631	15	735,879	11	13,928	N/A*	23,964
2015/16	16	886,342	15	59,183	44	82,072	30	28,667	14	655,279	12	14,301	N/A*	46,840
2016/17	14	781,250	14	51,850	39	71,937	27	25,383	12	569,207	10	12,155	N/A*	50,718

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Arrests By ethnicity over time Summary

This data up to 2016/17 shows that:

• overall, rates of arrest in England and Wales fell from 26 arrests per 1,000 people in 2006/07 to 14 arrests per 1,000 people in 2016/17
• there were 105,092 fewer arrests in 2016/17 compared with the previous year, a fall of 12%
• arrest rates for people from the Asian, White, and Other (including Chinese) ethnic groups were lower than average in almost every year of the period studied, while the rates for people from the Black and Mixed ethnic groups were consistently higher than average
• between 2006/07 and 2016/17, the arrest rate for White people went down from 24 arrests per 1,000 to 12 arrests per 1,000 – a decrease of 50%
• in the same period, the arrest rate for people with Mixed ethnicity went down from 43 arrests per 1,000 to 27 arrests per 1,000 – a decrease of 38%
• the arrest rate for people from the Other ethnic group went down from 16 arrests per 1,000 people in 2006/07 to 10 per 1,000 in 2016/17 – a decrease of 38%
• the arrest rate for Black people went down from 56 arrests per 1,000 people in 2006/07 to 39 per 1,000 in 2016/17 – a decrease of 32%
• the arrest rate for Asian people went down from 18 arrests per 1,000 people in 2006/07 to 14 per 1,000 in 2016/17 – a decrease of 26%

4. By ethnicity and area

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2017/2018
• Source: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics

Arrest rate per 1,000 people, and number of arrests, by ethnicity and police force area

Geography	All	Asian	Black	Mixed	White	Other inc Chinese
	Arrest per 1,000	Arrest per 1,000	Arrest per 1,000	Arrest per 1,000	Arrest per 1,000	Arrest per 1,000
All	13	12	35	25	11	9
Avon & Somerset	16	16	66	29	14	14
Bedfordshire	12	13	33	22	10	9
Cambridgeshire	21	26	97	38	19	18
Cheshire	11	12	74	10	11	12
Cleveland	19	18	50	20	19	18
Cumbria	15	27	104	19	14	29
Derbyshire	11	16	43	18	10	10
Devon & Cornwall	7	14	63	8	6	9
Dorset	10	11	108	15	9	9
Durham	14	17	41	10	14	19
Dyfed-Powys	8	11	51	10	8	6
Essex	9	9	29	22	7	12
Gloucestershire	8	11	67	23	7	28
Greater Manchester	10	10	24	16	9	8
Gwent	9	14	37	12	9	33
Hampshire	10	9	59	16	9	11
Hertfordshire	11	10	36	18	9	10
Humberside	12	14	58	14	12	5
Kent	15	14	60	18	13	29
Lancashire	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*
Leicestershire	11	9	43	15	10	9
Lincolnshire	12	18	72	23	12	35
London, City of	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*
Merseyside	17	18	49	19	16	15
Metropolitan Police	15	11	32	20	12	12
Norfolk	12	3	26	4	4	6
North Wales	18	12	89	10	17	21
North Yorkshire	12	9	30	15	11	13
Northamptonshire	12	14	42	20	10	21
Northumbria	14	11	35	6	14	1
Nottinghamshire	12	11	37	16	10	8
South Wales	16	13	50	20	16	10
South Yorkshire	10	9	21	7	7	6
Staffordshire	11	23	58	30	10	23
Suffolk	9	5	20	5	4	6
Surrey	8	10	51	13	7	9
Sussex	10	11	67	14	8	10
Thames Valley	14	16	43	31	11	11
Warwickshire	9	8	44	19	6	7
West Mercia	9	15	53	12	6	11
West Midlands	15	12	31	24	13	11
West Yorkshire	16	18	35	28	15	11
Wiltshire	10	11	55	21	10	16

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Arrests By ethnicity and area Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2017/18, the biggest difference in the arrest rates between Black people and White people was in Dorset (where Black people were almost 12 times as likely to be arrested as White people), followed by Devon and Cornwall (where Black people were 10 times as likely to be arrested as White people)
• Black people had the highest arrest rates per 1,000 people in every police force area for which there was data
• the arrest rate for Asian people was 3 times higher than the rate for White people in West Mercia
• the arrest rate for people with Mixed ethnicity was 3 times the rate for White people in Essex, Gloucestershire and Staffordshire
• in London, there were 19 arrests for every 1,000 ethnic minority people compared with 12 arrests for every 1,000 White people
• Cambridgeshire had the highest overall rate of arrests, at 21 arrests for every 1,000 people
• the police forces with the lowest overall rates of arrests were Devon and Cornwall (7 arrests for every 1,000 people), followed by Gloucestershire, Surrey, and Dyfed-Powys (each with 8 arrests per 1,000 people)
• differences in the rate of arrests in England and Wales are likely, in part, to reflect population differences in those areas (with many more people from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups living in London than in North Wales, for example)

5. By ethnicity and gender

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2017/18
• Source: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics

Arrest rate per 1,000 people, and number of arrests, by ethnicity and gender

	Female		Male
Ethnicity	Female Arrest rate per 1,000	Female Number of arrests	Male Arrest rate per 1,000	Male Number of arrests
All	4	102,919	22	595,818
Asian	2	3,321	23	42,955
Black	7	6,913	66	59,006
Mixed	6	3,538	34	20,267
White	3	80,632	18	425,148
Other including Chinese	3	1,508	19	9,567
Unknown	N/A*	7,007	N/A*	38,875

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Arrests By ethnicity and gender Summary

This data shows that:

• overall in 2017/18, there were 4 arrests for every 1,000 women and 22 arrests for every 1,000 men
• Black men were over three times as likely to be arrested than White men – there were 66 arrests for every 1,000 Black men, and 18 arrests for every 1,000 White men
• Black women were over twice as likely to be arrested as White women – there were 7 arrests for every 1,000 Black women, and 3 arrests for every 1,000 White women
• Asian men were 13 times as likely to be arrested as Asian women, the biggest difference between men and women from the same ethnic group – there were 23 arrests for every 1,000 Asian men, and 2 arrests for every 1,000 Asian women

6. Methodology

A person arrested for a notifiable offence is counted for each occasion on which they are arrested, provided that the offence is not connected or related to an offence for which the person has already been subject to arrest during the year.

If it is connected, or if a person has been arrested for more than one notifiable offences on the same occasion, the offence with the highest maximum penalty is recorded.

Arresting officers are required to record details of an arrest at the time of arrest, or as soon as possible after. A universal code of practice (PACE code G) ensures arrests are standardised across forces, both in terms of the processes involved, and the data recorded.

The person arrested states their ethnicity at the time of arrest.

Police forces have their own internal auditing methods to ensure that data is accurate and up to date before it's submitted to the Home Office.

Rounding

Rates of arrest per 1,000 people are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Further technical information

Police forces' recording of arrests, and use of the data, are monitored by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

HMICFRS carries out regular inspections and produce reports on the inspections. Home Office statisticians undertake quality assurance checks which include looking for missing and incomplete data, inconsistencies in the data, and extreme values.

Trend analyses also look for unusual or unexpected trends in the data. Any inconsistencies or unusual trends are flagged with forces, who are requested to either explain the trends, or resubmit to amend the data.

All data is then confirmed by forces during a data reconciliation before the figures are published.

7. Data sources

Source

Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Home Office

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

Figures on stop and search reported to the Home Office are used to create greater transparency in the use of stop and search in England and Wales. They enhance accountability by enabling the public to monitor police forces at a national and local level.

The data is used to form a national picture of the trends in stop and search. It informs discussions about crime, policing and criminal justice in government and academia, and ensures the public are accurately informed.

8. Download the data

Number of arrests - Spreadsheet (csv) 1 MB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, police force area, number of arrests, population and rate and proportions of arrests

Publication release date: 18 March 2019

Updated: 14 May 2019

full page history

1. 14 May 2019 Some headings have been changed. No data or commentary has been updated.
2. 18 March 2019 Updated with the latest available data (for 2017/18).

From: Home Office

Previous editions:

1. 10 October 2018
2. 20 August 2018

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