Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (Commissioner), David Allen, received updates at his Police Public Accountability Conference (PAC).
Overall crime reduced by 3% between 1 April and 31 December 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, with 850 fewer crime (victims) reports, falling from 28,370 reports to 27,520. Anti-social behaviour (ASB) fell by 30.1% across the county and youth specific ASB dropped by 17.4%. Operation Enhance is a key factor in the ASB reduction, funded by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, the operation places extra police patrols in 15 hotspots across the county.
Vehicle offences have seen the largest decrease of all crime types, dropping by 19.1%, with 125 less victims. Burglary has also dropped by 8.4% with 70 fewer crimes compared to the same period last year. This decrease comes from a force-wide focus to reduce burglary with a dedicated operation and increased media campaigns highlighting the importance to residents of securing their homes. Drug offences have fallen by 9.7% following consistent, visible policing to disrupt local supply chains.
Domestic abuse reports fell by 6.9% from 4,788 to 4,456 reports. However, rape has increased by 4.8% with an extra 18 crimes being reported bringing the recorded offences up to 481. Work is taking place to resolve this by improving support for investigations, more training including lived experience from victims, and analytics.
The Commissioner also received an update on the work to being done to tackle serious organised crime with the key threats in Cumbria being drugs, county lines, modern slavery and human trafficking, and child sexual abuse and exploitation. Operation Alliance is the overarching operation for tackling serious organised crime in the county and includes partners such as Westmorland and Furness Council, Cumberland Council, Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, Trading Standards and Probation. In 2025, the Constabulary made 2,037 disruptions to serious organised crime activity, leading to 281 arrests. Throughout their work, the Constabulary were able to safeguard 152 vulnerable adults and 159 children. In relation to drugs, 467kg of narcotics were seized throughout 2025 and seized £4,0767,025 in cash.
Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, David Allen, said: “Holding the Constabulary to account is one of my key roles as Commissioner and my Public Accountability Conferences allow me to do this in a transparent manner.
“Crime and ASB continues to fall, which I’m really pleased about and I’m sure this is a trend that will continue. ASB, vehicle crime, burglary and drug-related crimes are the most likely to affect the majority so I’m glad to see these being prioritised by the Constabulary.
“Domestic abuse also continues to fall. However, there are still too many instances, and I know that there are still people out there suffering in silence.
“Rape reports have risen to 481 – that’s more than one report a day and I have asked to Constabulary to enhance its response to this dreadful offence.
“Currently, the percentage for positive outcomes for rape, meaning where the crime has been resolved or there is a favourable outcome, sits at 7.7% - this is not where I or the Chief Constable want them to be and work is being undertaken to improve this.
“The Constabulary is also working closely with CPS to improve the pre and post charge quality of service and timescales to bring cases to an appropriate conclusion.
“This is an area that I will be maintaining a very close over watch on and I do expect the Constabulary to improve in. It is incredibly important that the Constabulary work to decrease this figure through education, prevention and detection.
“This is a societal issue, and we all need to work together to reduce this and push the message that consent is always necessary, that it can be withdrawn at any point and this needs to be respected – no-one is entitled to another person’s body.
“Anyone that has suffered domestic abuse or rape, please report it to the Police, we cannot help, if we do not know. However, if you do not wish to report to the Constabulary, Victim Support Cumbria can help you – please contact them on 0808 1689 111.
“I also received an update regarding the work being done to tackle organised crime groups and serious organised crime. This work is invaluable to protecting our communities, so I was happy to see that more than 2,000 disruptions were made and that the Police were able to seize over £4m in money. A portion gets distributed back into our communities through my Community Fund so it’s great that we can continue use this to better our county.
“As part of this work, I have funded days of action to tackle drugs across the county. So far, these days have resulted in the execution of 30 search warrants, 34 arrests, the recovery of more than £600,000 in cash, Class A&B drugs, direct protect advice to 660 school pupils, 21 licensed premises visits and specific messaging to in excess of 600 households in the vicinity of police activity with more days planned in the future.
“I look forward to continuing to hold the Constabulary to account throughout 2026 and I’m keen to evolve the meetings so that they are more accessible to the public so keep an eye on my website and social media for updates.
“If you would like to attend a PAC or would like to raise any concerns you may have around Policing, please contact me at commissioner@cumbria-pcc.gov.uk or on 01768 217734.”
Temporary Chief Constable Darren Martland, Cumbria Constabulary, said: “The results outlined in our recent Police Public Accountability Conference reflect the hard work and professionalism of our officers and staff, who are doing their utmost to keep Cumbria safe.
“The fall in crime and anti-social behaviour ultimately means that fewer people have been harmed and there have been fewer victims, which is at the heart of what we work towards every day.
“I’d like to thank our officers and staff for all their efforts in continuing to drive down crime.
“I’d also like to thank the public for their ongoing support and for providing the information we need to stop and solve crime.”
For the full Public Accountability Conference reports, visit the Cumbria Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner website.
If you wish to report to police you can do so online at Report a crime | Cumbria Police. You can also phone on 101. Always phone 999 in an emergency or if a crime is in progress.