Investigating the influence of deprivation, police stations and education facilities on acquisitive crime

Abstract

Despite acquisitive crimes being the most recorded crimes in the UK (ONS, 2022), relatively little research has considered factors that influence their number. The study hypothesises that 1) deprivation will positively affect the number of acquisitive crimes, 2) both education facilities and police stations will negatively affect the number of acquisitive crimes, and 3) police stations will negatively influence the number of thefts. Publicly available data of all crimes recorded in Manchester by the Greater Manchester Police were collected on the UK Government website and the index of deprivation was collected through the Lower Layer Super Output Areas on the English Data Police website. According to the results, deprivation had a positive effect on the number of acquisitive crimes (N = 4,423). The presence of one education facility positively influenced the number of acquisitive crimes. Furthermore, the presence of police stations was positively associated to the total number of acquisitive crimes, however, the number of thefts from a person and other thefts were lower in areas with a police station. The study addresses the gap of how acquisitive crimes are affected by the index of deprivation, while also emphasises on the importance of police stations and education facilities in the number of acquisitive crimes.