22989-25 Crimes recorded at Christian places of worship
Request to Northamptonshire Police
Please provide the following recorded crime statistics held in your force's databases for the period 1 January 2010 - 31 December 2024 (or latest available):
- Crimes recorded at Christian places of worship
Please provide the number of recorded crimes where the premises type / location category is recorded or coded as:
Church; Chapel; Christian place of worship; Churchyard / graveyard associated with a church. Please provide totals broken down by calendar year.
If your force uses alternative terms or codes for churches, please use your own premises-type code and specify the term used.
- Total crimes recorded (all premises types)
For the same period, please provide the total number of crimes recorded at all premises types, by calendar year. (This allows for proportional comparison.)
- Recording practice clarification
If your force does not record premises type in a searchable field, please confirm:
Whether premises type is stored in any structured field; whether it is searchable; the earliest date from which it becomes searchable (if applicable).
As clarified
By “Christian place of worship”, I am referring only to the premises-type categories used within your force’s own crime recording system, not to theological classifications or denominational distinctions.
For the purpose of this request, please include any premises coded or described as:
- Church
- Chapel
- Christian place of worship
- Churchyard or graveyard associated with a church
If your force uses alternative terminology or premises-type codes that correspond to Christian places of worship, please use those and indicate the term/code used.
I am not requesting a breakdown by denomination (e.g., Methodist, Baptist, Anglican, Catholic). Only the premises-type category is relevant.
Response
After conducting reasonable searches against our crime recording system, I can confirm that Northamptonshire Police holds the information requested.
However, we are not able to provide you with this data as it is not held in an easily retrievable format.
We searched on the terms ‘Church’, Chapel’, Churchyard, Christian Place of Worship and Graveyard’ and tried to match the results with the premises subcategories of ‘Church/Religious Building’ and ‘Churchyard’. However, this returned results where the incident occurred at premises outside of your parameters, such as Mosques.
Our analysts would need to manually review 2,069 incidents in order to assess if they occurred at a ‘Christian place of worship’. At even a conservative estimated minute per record, this would exceed the appropriate cost limit of £450, engaging an exemption under s12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).
Accordingly, please accept this document as a Refusal Notice under s17(1) of the Act. Under our s16 duty to offer advice and assistance on the refinement of your request, please be advised that we may be able to provide you with data for 2024 and 2025.
If you feel this would be beneficial, please submit a new request.
I must also advise that due to a 2016 change in Northamptonshire Police’s systems, data from prior to this year may be omitted or inaccurate.