As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, stats are notoriously difficult to believe, let alone the spin that surrounds them.

However, even I couldn’t quite believe the following two articles which appeared on the Hull Daily Mail’s website:

Article 1, featured online on Tues 7^th April

“Burglaries in Hull at all-time low”

Quick summary: Hull has always had a bad reputation for being a hotspot when it comes to burglaries, but new figures are showing that offences are dropping in our local area. Burglaries have fallen seven per cent from April last year to the end of March this year, which has been attributed to a specialist team set up to tackle house burglaries just over two years ago.

Yet….

Article 2, featured online on Tues 14^th April

“Hull eighth-worst burglary hotspot in country”

Quick summary: People in Hull have an above average chance of becoming a victim of burglary and we are ranked as the eighth worst hotspot in the UK. In fact, we are 37% more likely to be burgled than the national average.

So there you have it, burglaries are up AND down.

Admittedly the Mail acknowledged that the latest survey results come just a week after revealing that Hull’s burglary rate was at an historic low, but it just when you thought it was safe to go out…

Interestingly, the stats both come from obvious sources – Humberside Police will understandably go to great lengths to take pride in their successful targeting of burglary, whereas the second figures (ranking us eighth) are from Endsleigh Insurance. Now, what would be their interest in allowing us to believe we are at risk do you think?

Humberside police may not rank particularly well in the league tables, but they are one of the first in the country to launch a new interactive Local Crime Map

Crime stats are broken down for each electoral ward in Hull and the East Riding, giving you the opportunity to see exactly where the trouble lies in your neighbourhood and how it compares to other areas.

I’m not wholly convinced this is going to be effective in restoring public confidence. I know the idea is to make neighbourhood policing more “visible” and “accountable”, but when it comes to the crunch, are we really going to be better informed? Crime stats are notoriously complex and I can imagine a particular influx one night in, let’s say car crime, is going to dramatically affect the overall picture for one area.

Don’t get me wrong, I agree with the incentives behind it and recognise that we need to have a better understand how crime is being tackled by our neighbourhood police teams, but I’m not sure this website can provide that.

Anyway, you’ll have to judge for yourself, so click here to find your crime map or the police in Hull.

There is no doubt about it, Hull doesn’t have the best of reputations and has even been voted the worst place to live in recent years.

(Slightly better news last year though – we were second from bottom)

Schools in Hull constantly appear at the bottom of education league tables, Humberside police struggles to climb up the ranks and the national coverage of the horrific flooding of Hull won’t have exactly drawn in the tourists.

So is it true? Is Hull the worst place to live?

We have all heard the complaints (you’ll hear some in this blog), but I genuinely think we have one of the best cities in Yorkshire and is on the rise. We have an historic old town centre, beautiful buildings and old pubs in Hull, fantastic sporting facilities and an excellent University that really puts Hull on the map.

We have a new £160m St Stephen’s Shopping Centre, The Deep (which has already attracted over 2 million visitors), and what’s more, property that is cheap as chips – just as well with all that fish.

In our defence – unlike most cities – we don’t have the wealthier suburbs to prop up our results, which can partly explain our league table performance, and I also think the flooding showed just how resilient and community-minded our residents are.

So, with a £1.5million cash injection in the last five years, Hull has gone from strength to strength. It really gets unfair press when dubbed one of the worst places to visit, and try as you might, I doubt you’ll be able to persuade me otherwise.