Kidnapping offences in England and Wales 2002-2022

In 2021/22 there were 6,905 kidnapping offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, an increase when compared with the previous year. Incidents of kidnapping reached a low of 1,388 offences in 2012/13 but have been increasing in every year since then.

Rising crime overall

Kidnapping offences have increased at a time of rising overall crime in the United Kingdom. After declining for several years between 2003/04 and 2010/11, overall crime offences suddenly started to increase, and reached a eleven-year high of 6.43 million offences in 2019/20.

Money and manpower to blame?

The current crime trends that are prevailing in the UK have led to questions about the ability of the police to counter it, and if they have the manpower and resources to do so. Unfortunately, the police have had to cope with cuts to their funding and their officer numbers making the difficult task of policing even harder.