Scarborough & Whitby

Community Safety Annual report

2025/26 Financial Year

 

 

2025-26 Financial year – Executive Summary

The Scarborough area continues to see the highest relative rate of crime in North Yorkshire with 87.56 crimes recorded for every 1,000 people.  Ryedale has 38.66, York 69.36, Harrogate 46.63, Richmondshire 34.07 and Selby 44.70.

Over the past 12 months, neighbourhood policing has focused on being visible in communities, using targeted enforcement where needed, and working closely with local partners to reduce harm and improve public safety.

A key piece of work was the Winter of Action (Dec 2025–Jan 2026) in Scarborough town centre, which delivered 437 patrols (around 348 hours, including 202 on foot) and resulted in 93 arrests, including 20 for theft.  This included the use of practical powers such as dispersal orders and the securing of a Criminal Behaviour Order to prevent ongoing nuisance and offending.  Alongside this, longer‑term operations were strengthened, including multi‑agency work to tackle youth anti‑social behaviour, a more efficient location‑focused deployment model under Operation Town, and expanded road safety and vehicle‑related anti‑social behaviour activity through Operation Clutch. The team also continued safeguarding and prevention work linked to seasonal pressures, including education for holiday park staff near Filey where summer demand can increase by around 50,000 additional people, and ongoing enforcement and patrols to address illegal off‑road vehicle use in forestry hotspots.

Overall recorded crime increased by 8% from 8,267 in 2024/25 to 8,910 in 2025/26. The largest rises included theft (up 19%), drug offences (up 31%—noted in the report as reflecting increased proactive policing), and violence against the person (up 7%), while fraud fell by 39% and vehicle offences fell by 14%. Enforcement and problem‑solving activity produced tangible results, including 11 closure orders (full and partial), 8 Criminal Behaviour Orders, and targeted work at Alma Square that delivered a 60% reduction in anti‑social behaviour and street drinking at that location.

Shoplifting continues to place significant pressure on local services, rising 27% from 957 to 1,259 offences. The command’s shoplifting positive outcome rate was 72.77%, supported by 209 arrests and 30 voluntary attendance interviews. Anti‑social behaviour reports also increased compared to the previous year, with 2,610 incidents reported by 2,110 individual reporting people, leading to outcomes including 71 arrests and 76 dispersals.

Protecting vulnerable people remains a major part of day‑to‑day policing, with 6,347 Public Protection Notices submitted (around 17 per day) and 1,443 assessed as high risk. Officers also dealt with 393 missing people, including 122 high‑risk cases (54 involving children), and attended 867 domestic abuse reports, continuing to use protective notices and court orders to help keep victims safe.

Over the next 12 months, activity will build on this work through Operation Sun (July–September 2026) with 12 multi‑agency deployments per month targeting anti‑social behaviour, retail crime, street crime, night‑time economy issues, and violence against women and girls. There are also 40 planned deployments linked to Open Air Theatre events to reduce alcohol‑related disorder and anti‑social behaviour, alongside stronger community engagement through initiatives such as a Beat Bus and improved links with seldom‑heard communities to build trust and improve the flow of information

 

Crime Statistics

Total crimes for last two financial years

See Appendix 1 for full data set.

Year

2024/25

2025/26

Crimes

%

Arson & Criminal Damage

902

926

+24

+3%

Burglary

237

235

-2

-1%

Drug Offences

314

413

+99

+31%

Fraud

205

125

-80

-39%

Misc Crimes Against Society

175

171

-4

-2%

Possession Of Weapons

115

134

+19

+16%

Public Order Offences

650

626

-24

-4%

Robbery(new offence created)

24

75

+51

+212%

Sexual Offences

388

425

+37

+9%

Theft

1523

1820

+297

+19%

Vehicle Offences

223

191

-32

-14%

Violence Against The Person

3511

3769

+258

+7%

Total

8267

8910

+643

+8%

 

Total crimes per ward for last two financial years

See Appendix 2 for full data set.

Year

2024/25

2025/26

Crimes

%

Castle

2165

2512

+347

+16%

Cayton

204

206

+2

+1%

Central

601

714

+113

+19%

Danby

77

60

-17

-22%

Derwent Valley

175

152

-23

-13%

Eastfield

626

716

+90

+14%

Esk Valley

89

101

+12

+13%

Falsgrave Park

465

412

-53

-11%

Fylingdales

102

65

-37

-36%

Lindhead

48

68

+20

+42%

Mayfield

153

148

-5

-3%

Mulgrave

151

136

-15

-10%

Newby

307

349

+42

+14%

North Bay

484

514

+30

+6%

Northstead

202

169

-33

-16%

Ramshill

397

471

+74

+19%

Scalby group

125

152

+27

+22%

Seamer

183

152

-31

-17%

Stepney

271

306

+35

+13%

Streonshalh

351

449

+98

+28%

Unallocated

61

0

/

+0%

Weaponness

128

178

+50

+39%

Whitby W-Cliff

448

468

+20

+4%

Woodlands

454

412

-42

-9%

Total

8267

8910

+643

+8%

NPT Activity during the last 12 months

Within Scarborough over the past 12 months, the Neighbourhood Policing Team have delivered a combination of high-visibility operations, targeted enforcement, and strong partnership working to address retail crime, ASB, youth offending, and vulnerability.

Key operational activity included the Winter of Action (Dec 2025–Jan 2026), which delivered daily patrols in Scarborough town centre. This resulted in 437 patrols (348 hours, 202 on foot), 93 arrests (including 20 for theft), and enforcement actions such as dispersal orders and a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO). Activity involved close partnership work with the council and night-time economy stakeholders.

Several long-term operations have been strengthened:

Operation Beat has developed into a well-established multi-agency model tackling youth ASB and early criminality. Through Multi-agency Problem Solving (MAPS) and tiered interventions, young people are supported through diversionary programmes (e.g. “A Different Path”), with escalation into enforcement where required.

Operations Receipt, Culture, and Downtown have been merged into Operation Town, improving efficiency by focusing deployments on key locations rather than crime types.

Operation Clutch has expanded its focus on road safety and vehicle-related ASB, incorporating education initiatives with schools, volunteers, and Mini Police.

ASB hotspot patrols and local patrol plans (based on Victim-Offender-Location data) have enabled more responsive, intelligence-led deployments.

Op Trailblaze remains ongoing and continues to focus on tackling the issue of off-road bikes and vehicles being used illegally within forestry areas.  Police are aware of persistent reports of motorcycles, quad bikes, and 4x4 vehicles accessing restricted land, causing damage to the natural environment, creating noise nuisance, and posing a risk to public safety. Patrols and targeted enforcement activity are continuing, particularly in identified hotspot locations.  Offenders found using vehicles unlawfully may face enforcement action, including vehicle seizure under Section 59 of the Police Reform Act, fines, and potential prosecution.  Local intelligence remains vital in addressing this issue. Members of the public are encouraged to report incidents, including descriptions of riders, vehicles, and locations, to assist with ongoing work.

Enforcement and prevention outcomes across NPT activity include:

 

Clear, Hold, Build (CHB) Outcomes – Barrowcliffe

Delivered under Operation Spirit, the CHB approach has focussed on long-term, community-led problem solving in the Barrowcliffe area. This partnership model addresses the root causes of crime through enforcement, prevention, and community empowerment.

Key outcomes include:

 

The MoRiLe (Management of Risk in Law Enforcement) score is a nationally recognised framework used to assess and prioritise risk based on threat, harm, vulnerability, and likelihood. A higher score indicates greater risk. The reduction from 357 to 51 demonstrates a substantial decrease in community risk and harm, highlighting the effectiveness of the CHB approach.

 

Planned Activity (Next 12 Months)

Future activity will continue to build on these successes, with a focus on visibility, partnership working, and prevention:

 

 

Drug Crime

Drug crime has risen 33% from 314 during the 2024/25 financial year, to 413 during the 2025/26 financial year.  The significant rise reflects the increase in proactivity by Officers in the area. 

Cannabis possession accounts for 52% of the drug crime.  Possession of all other controlled drugs is 34% of the total, whilst Trafficking in Controlled Drugs (drug dealing) accounts for the remaining 14%.

The detection rate across the command for all drug crime during the last financial year was 63.19%.  The force average for the same time frame was 51.37%.

Officers on the command have stop and searched 649 people during this period.  Of the 649, 377 (58%) of these were for suspected drug possession.  Of the 377 drug searches, 94 (25.14%) of these resulted in an arrest or positive outcome.  These figures do not include people arrested for other offences who were searched and drugs located, they are purely relating to proactive stop and searches by Officers on patrol.  A ward by ward break down of drug crime can be seen below.

Officers will remain proactive throughout this year, but we require assistance from the community.  If you have any information or know of someone with information who will speak to us, please consider contacting police or reporting to crime stoppers on 0800 555 111 Giving information anonymously | Crimestoppers. 

We do act on reports on a regular basis.

Retail crime

Shoplifting continues to create excessive demand for our area, the county and the country.  Recorded shoplifting rose 302 (+27%) from 957 to 1259.  We are responding by arresting and charging suspects whenever possible. 

 

2025/26 Shoplifting

See appendix 3 for break down per ward of this data

 

2024/25 Shoplifting

See appendix 3 for break down per ward of this data

 

2025/26 Shoplifting positive outcome rate

Our positive outcome rate for the whole command for the last financial year was 72.77%.  The rate for previous financial year to last year was 70.33% and the year prior to that was 54.04% so we continue to increase the number of offenders we deal with in a positive manner.  A total of 209 people were arrested for shoplifting across the area last year, 30 people were dealt with by a voluntary attendance interview.  Almost 6 out of every 10 shoplifting crimes result in an offender being charged to court.

 

 

 

 

Anti-Social Behaviour

Reported ASB has increased when compared to the 2323 reports received in 2024/25.  There were 287 additional reports of ASB Nuisance and ASB Environmental this year.

This year had 2110 individual reporting people for ASB who reported 2610 incidents.  This resulted in 71 arrests, 29 people charged with an offence/s, 314 people stopped and asked for an account relating to what they were doing, 76 dispersals, 23 stop & searches, 16 CRD and 16 people reported for summons for offence/s

The 2610 ASB reports from 2025/26 are broken down into the following wards and times.

ASB reports per ward

 

Committed/Reported Hour

 

 

Committed/Reported Day

 

 

 

Castle ward with 949 reports is the 2nd busiest area in North Yorkshire for reported ASB, the top being Guildhall in York City Centre with 999. 

 

 

Public Protection Notices

A critical area of Policing is protecting vulnerable people.  If Police attend an incident and identify a vulnerable adult or child who requires assistance or intervention, we submit a Public Protection Notice (PPN).  This is screened by our Vulnerability Assessment Team before being disseminated to relevant agencies and a course of action decided upon.  This process runs alongside any immediate action such as arrests or removing children who are at risk of immediate significant harm.

During the last financial year in the Scarborough and Whitby area, Officers submitted 6347 PPNs (average of 17 a day).  Of these, 1443 were assessed as being high risk which invariably results in some form of immediate intervention/assistance by Police or other agency.

 

Missing People

Scarborough and Whitby Officers dealt with 393 missing people.  122 of these were assessed as high risk which requires immediate actions and resources dedicated to locating and safeguarding those people.  54 of the high-risk reports related to children.  The preservation of life is one of the core functions of the police and the search for high-risk missing people can often be very resource intensive for protracted periods.

 

Domestic Abuse

Scarborough & Whitby Officers dealt with 867 reports of domestic abuse during 2025/26.  Officers take positive action whenever possible when attending reports of domestic abuse.  When this is not suitable in the circumstances presented them, they will safeguard victims in the most appropriate manner available to them at the time.  In the Coast Command as a whole, Officers made an arrest in 39% of the reported crimes. 

We are increasingly using Domestic Violence Protection Notices (DVPN) and Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPO) to protect victims from domestic abuse.  During the last financial year, North Yorkshire Police issued 223 DVPNs.  200 of these were upgraded to DVPOs when heard at court.  On Coast command, we issued 85 Domestic Violence Protection Notices.  76 of these were granted at court so then became a Domestic Violence Protection Order, the other 9 were either withdrawn, refused or dismissed at court. 

From the 76 DVPOs in Coast command, there were 20 arrests and successful prosecutions by NYP for breaching the order.  11 of these resulted in a fine, 9 of them resulted in a custodial sentence. 

 

Arrests

2667 arrests were made on our command during the last 12 months, an average of just over 7 per day.  362 voluntary attendance interviews were carried out in the same time period. 

 

Travelling criminals

There have been notable arrests involving criminals travelling down from Cleveland to steal from farms and isolated rural locations in the Whitby rural area.  Specialist resources are deployed from across the county to the Whitby and moors area on a regular basis, this has resulted in two recent pursuits, one of which ended in Middlesbrough with one suspect arrested after a vehicle stung by traffic police.  Detectives from NYP have bi-weekly meetings with our counterparts from Cleveland to share information and intelligence relating to these offences. 

These crimes are the focus of specific operations, and we work closely with Cleveland on live time jobs, sharing developing information on a second-by-second basis using our dispatch systems.

In the coast command, we hold a bi-weekly inter-departmental meeting chaired by the DCI to assess all recent burglaries and robberies to look for patterns and assure ourselves that detection opportunities are being maximised. 

 

Operation Tornado

Although carried out in the current financial year on 22/04/26 so not applicable to the reports figures, Operation Tornado in Eastfield and Scarborough Town Centre saw a coordinated day of action involving officers from across the command, resulting in significant proactive enforcement and community engagement. Activity was led by a combination of warrant teams, response officers, roads policing, and proactive plain clothes operations, alongside dedicated retail crime officers and specialist units.

The operation delivered a strong mix of enforcement outcomes, including the disruption of drug supply, recovery of weapons, targeting of priority offenders, and visible reassurance patrols. Engagement with members of the public formed a key part of the day through a range of community initiatives, supported by high-visibility patrols such as the off-road bike team in known hotspot areas. Overall, the day demonstrated effective partnership working, proactive policing beyond warrant execution, and a clear impact on crime and community confidence in the Eastfield area.

Key Outcomes:

 

 

Coast Command Response Times

 

The data shows strong and resilient response performance across Coast Command, particularly for immediate incidents, while also highlighting the impact of sustained demand on priority response times.

For Immediate Urban incidents, 90.85% of calls were attended within the expected timeframe (3,169 out of 3,488). These incidents are expected to be attended within 15 minutes from the point the call is taken by the force control room, and this level of performance demonstrates a consistently rapid response in higher‑demand urban areas.

For Immediate Rural incidents, 82.67% were attended within expected timescales (1,312 out of 1,587). These incidents have a 20‑minute attendance expectation, and performance remains strong when considering the additional challenges of distance, travel time, and geographic spread across rural communities.

For Priority incidents, 73.86% were attended within the expected timeframe (6,251 out of 8,463). These incidents have a one‑hour attendance expectation, but performance in this category is more sensitive to demand. Priority calls represent the largest volume of incidents by a significant margin, and as demand increases, these are the incidents most likely to be affected during busy periods as resources are redirected to deal with immediate risk.

It is also important to recognise that these attendance times include not just travel, but the time taken by the Force Control Room to receive, assess, and grade each call before deployment, meaning the figures reflect the full end‑to‑end response process.

Overall, the figures demonstrate that urgent incidents are being responded to quickly and consistently across both urban and rural areas, while the sheer scale of demand within priority calls places the greatest pressure on the system, particularly at peak times.

It should be noted that these are not the only incidents we deal with.  We also have a range of additional different grades of incidents which front line officers attend, P12, Other, Scheduled appointments, Vulnerable, and NPT.

 

How to contact us

North Yorkshire Police are embracing modern methods of communication and reporting of crime.  There is now an extensive “Contact us” page which provides a multitude of methods to contact us.  The below QR code or this link Contact us | North Yorkshire Police will take you straight to this page:

 

There is also now a live chat function.  This is a small round blue icon on the bottom right-hand side of the NYP website.  This can often be a quick way to report incidents or seek advice. 

 

Live Chat is on NYP Website

Appendix 1

 

Recorded crimes for last two financial years.

2024/25 financial year

 

2025/26 financial year

 

Appendix 2

 

Recorded crimes in each ward for last two financial years.

Crimes in each ward for 2024/25 financial year

 

Crimes in each ward for 2025/26 financial year

 

Appendix 3

 

Shoplifting crimes per ward 2024/25

 

Shoplifting crimes per ward 2025/26