The areas of the West Midlands which have been blighted by crime most often this year have been revealed. Exclusive figures obtained by Birmingham Live showed where our region's crime hotspots are and where communities suffer most as their lives are disrupted by burglaries, car thefts and nuisance yobs, as well as much more serious crimes.
We asked West Midlands Police for a list of areas where most crimes have been committed during 2023, under freedom of information laws. The force was only able to narrow this down to postcode areas.
It provided us with a list of the top 15 crime hotspots across Birmingham and the Black Country this year. Nearly 6,000 offences were recorded in the worst-hit area - B23.
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This Birmingham neighbourhood includes Erdington, Short Heath and Stockland Green. A total of 5,899 crimes have happened here this year up to the start of November - and that's only the ones police have been made aware of. That's around 20 every day on average.
And it comes just days after a man was found dead at a house of multiple occupation (HMO) on Doidge Road, Stockland Green. A 35-year-old man has been charged with murder following the death of Anthony Sharma, 43.
Next on the list was B31, which includes Northfield in south west Birmingham, with 5,841 crimes. That was followed by the Black Country's crime hotspot, WV10 on the northern side of Wolverhampton, which had 5,821.
The full list of the top 15 postcode areas can be viewed on the interactive map below.
Two Walsall areas featured high up on the list - WS10 and WS2. WV14, which is made up of Bilston and Coseley, and B70 West Bromwich completed the list for areas where there have been more than 5,000 recorded crimes in 2023.
The force was unable to provide details of types of crimes committed in each area due to the length of time it would take to collate the information. Other postcodes to make the top 15 list were: B5, B37, WS3, B33, DY5, DY4, B11 and WV1.
It comes after West Midlands Mayor Andy Street insisted earlier this month crime levels in the region were out of control, as he launched a bid to take over policing powers. He cited crime figures stating offences had more than doubled to 360,000 in the year ending June 2023 compared with eight years earlier.
