USODA

UK Sexual Offence Density Atlas

Where violence and sexual offences are reported across the UK

An interactive map built from official open police data. It shows ten years of reports, grouped into areas about 4 km across, so patterns can be seen without identifying anyone.

Open the map Read the limits first

Data: police.uk, rolling ten years.

Read this first

The map counts reports, not the number of offences that happen. Many sexual offences are never reported. The police category it uses, Violence and sexual offences, also includes assault, harassment and stalking, and the open data cannot separate them. A quiet area on the map is not a safe area.

What the atlas shows

Density of reports

Cells are coloured by the number of reports in the time window you choose: ten years, five years, three years, twelve months or a single month. The busiest 3% of cells carry a dark outline.

Rates, where they can be worked out

In England and Wales you can switch to reports a year per 1,000 residents, or per 1,000 workday population. Both use Census 2021. Busy town centres record more simply because more people are there, and a rate helps to allow for that.

Police force areas

A second layer gives totals for each force. Each total is checked against the Home Office police recorded crime tables. Where a force has gaps in its data, the map says so and shows the Home Office figure instead.

Scotland, on its own terms

Scotland has no open street-level feed. It appears as 32 council areas, by year, using the narrower Scottish definition of sexual crimes. It is not comparable with the hexagons and must not be added to them.

Data status and national context

A status panel gives the latest month, the newest month published upstream and the coverage of each force. A context panel sets the map beside national survey estimates and official totals.

Keyboard-friendly list

The map works by touch, mouse and keyboard. A ranked list of the top 15 cells gives the same information without needing to use the map.

Potential uses

The atlas helps to ask better questions about where to look further. It does not answer them on its own.

Community safety and public health teams

Find where reported offending is concentrated over several years, then compare it with local knowledge, licensing data and service use before planning action.

Support services and charities

Look at where reports cluster when deciding where to place outreach, advice sessions or awareness work. Remember that low reporting can mean low trust or poor access, not low need.

Researchers and students

Use it to teach how crime data is built and where it fails: recording practice, reporting rates, gaps in coverage and different national definitions. The code and method are public.

Journalists and campaigners

Use the force-level totals and the known-issue notes to check claims about trends. Quote the limits with the numbers, and do not rank areas that have gaps in their data.

Local authorities and planners

Use ten-year patterns, rather than single months, as background for night-time economy, transport and public-space planning. Add local data before deciding anything.

Anyone checking the data

Every figure traces back to an open source and every step is on GitHub. If something looks wrong, the cross-checks and the data status panel show where to start.

What it cannot do

Do not use it to

  • judge how safe a place is for a person;
  • measure how common sexual offences are;
  • find, or try to identify, a victim, an offender or an address;
  • add Scotland to, or rank it against, the rest of the map;
  • read a quiet cell in a force with data gaps as low risk.

Keep in mind

  • Police publish approximate points, not exact locations.
  • Cells with fewer than 3 records are hidden.
  • Greater Manchester Police has almost no street-level data after June 2019. Other forces have smaller gaps.
  • Data is published monthly, usually one to three months behind, and recent totals can change.
  • Changes over time reflect recording practice and willingness to report, as well as what happened.

The full list of limits is in the map’s About panel, and the reasoning behind each source is in the data sources note.

Where the data comes from

  • Crime reports: data.police.uk, street-level monthly archives, category Violence and sexual offences.
  • Cross-checks: Home Office police recorded crime open data tables, by police force area.
  • Population: ONS Census 2021, usual residents and workday population.
  • Scotland: Scottish Government Recorded Crimes and Offences, by council area.
  • Boundaries: ONS Open Geography Portal. Base map: OpenStreetMap contributors.

The sources are shown side by side and are never combined into one number. The data refreshes automatically when the police publish a new month.

Open the map Method and code on GitHub

Download the data

Plain CSV copies of the figures behind the map, ready for a spreadsheet. Each file is one source with one definition: do not add files together or rank one against another.

Open Government Licence v3.0. See the data licence note.

If you need support

If you or someone you know has been affected, free and confidential help is available. In an emergency, call 999.

Scotland

Rape Crisis Scotland runs a free helpline on 08088 01 03 02, every day from 17:00 to midnight. It also takes text messages on 07537 410 027 and email at support@rapecrisisscotland.org.uk.

Northern Ireland

The Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline, run by Nexus NI, is free on 0808 802 1414 and open 24 hours a day. The Department of Justice announced the service.

Numbers and hours were checked on 27 October 2026 and can change. If one does not work, use the organisation's website.