Organised crime and serious violence costs Bradford £406 million a year – according to a partnership aimed at making the District a safer place.
A report into community safety and crime in the District shows that the impact of crime goes far beyond the effect on victims, and hits all aspects of society.
Bradford Council’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee will receive a report from the Bradford Community Safety Partnership that highlights that while there are major issues in Bradford involving violent crime and domestic abuse – there are areas where things are getting better.
Targeted work in the Holme Wood has led to a reduction in certain types of crime on the estate.
Referring to serious violence and organised crime, the report says: “Violence continues to have a huge impact on victims both physically and mentally and also adversely affects perpetrators too.
“It is often a symptom of other, deeper-rooted, issues.
“Beyond the person, the economic costs are also significant, with the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership estimating the costs to be £406 million a year in Bradford.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has asked for more detail of how that figure is broken down.
The partnership said the calculation looked at costs in anticipation of crime, costs as a consequence of crime, costs in response to the crime.
The report highlights a number of areas where work by police and other partners have worked to try to bring crime rates down.
The Holme Wood estate had been seen as an area of concern – one of the top three high crime areas in Bradford.
The report says: “Interventions have been put in place from a preventative angle alongside increased enforcement action by the Police.
“Early indications are that violence in Holme Wood has dropped significantly. For the last five years it featured in the top three super output areas in Bradford.
“In the last year it has dropped out of the top 10 altogether. Violent offences have dropped by seven per cent (compared to a five per cent drop for the district) and violence crime and violence against children has reduced by 20 per cent (compared to nine per cent for the district).”
Other work includes youth interventions in the Canterbury estate.
Councillors will also be given details of police operations that took place in 2024 to tackle serious organised crime in Bradford. From January 2024 to January 2025 there has been 610 arrests, 298 stop searches, 381 out of court disposals, 717 charges, 2,172 vehicle seizures, 1,689 ‘intelligence submissions’ and 21 cannabis farms discovered.”
By: Chris Young, LDRS
