Is vehicle crime going up in West Yorkshire?

Not clearly. Recorded vehicle crime in West Yorkshire went from 15,797 in the year to August 2025 to 15,819 in the year to August 2026 (+0.1%), which is within its ordinary variation or may reflect recording changes.

How many vehicle crime offences were recorded in West Yorkshire?

West Yorkshire Police recorded 15,819 vehicle crime offences in the year to August 2026, according to police.uk data.

How many vehicle crime offences in West Yorkshire end with no suspect identified?

82.3% of vehicle crime offences recorded in West Yorkshire in the year to August 2025 had "no suspect identified" as their latest outcome, against 83.1% across England and Wales.

Vehicle crime in West Yorkshire: police data to August 2026

Police.uk open data for West Yorkshire to August 2026, analysed by Clear Security. Part of our UK vehicle crime study; updated quarterly; this edition was published 31 October 2026.

Key findings

West Yorkshire Police recorded 15,819 vehicle crime offences in the year to August 2026, against 15,797 in the year before (+0.1%). The change is within the ordinary month-to-month variation for West Yorkshire, so we describe it as little changed.
Council areas: vehicle crime rose in 1 of the 5 council areas below; in the rest the change was too small to call.
Outcomes: 82.3% of vehicle crime offences recorded in the year to August 2025 ended with no suspect identified, against 83.1% across England and Wales.
Busiest month: October averaged 47.9 vehicle crime offences a day over three years, 11.4% more than December.
Nationally: vehicle crime changed by -3.2% across 38 forces and rose in 17 of them; West Yorkshire's change ranks 17 of 38 (1 is the largest rise).

Vehicle crime by council area in West Yorkshire

Recorded vehicle crime offences in each council area where West Yorkshire Police recorded at least 80% of the vehicle crime offences:

Council area	Year to August 2025	Year to August 2026	Change	Per 1,000 residents	No suspect identified (year to August 2025)
Bradford	3,786	4,506	+19.0% (rose)	8.2	83.5%
Calderdale	1,225	1,109	-9.5% (little changed)	5.4	79.7%
Kirklees	2,109	2,202	+4.4% (little changed)	5.1	75.3%
Leeds	6,267	5,700	-9.0% (little changed)	7.0	85.4%
Wakefield	2,303	2,215	-3.8% (little changed)	6.3	79.6%

A change is called a rise or a fall only when it is statistically clear and at least 10%; see how the study is compiled. Rates use Census 2021 residents. police.uk places vehicle crime where the vehicle was, at work and in town as well as at home, so council areas with many businesses and few residents show higher rates: they are context, not a ranking. A further 12 vehicle crime offences recorded by West Yorkshire Police in the year to August 2026 were placed in council areas mostly policed by other forces (North Yorkshire, Rochdale); they count towards the force total but not the table.

What happened to vehicle crime offences in West Yorkshire

Latest outcome on police.uk for vehicle crime offences recorded in the year to August 2025, so each case had at least a year to progress:

Latest outcome	West Yorkshire	England and Wales
Investigation complete; no suspect identified	82.3% (12,925)	83.1%
Unable to prosecute suspect	11.1% (1,736)	10.6%
Court-related	3.5% (554)	3.0%
Status update unavailable	2.8% (439)	2.8%
Other outcomes	0.3% (53)	0.5%

Based on 15,707 vehicle crime offences. Differences partly reflect how each force records outcomes, so this is not a measure of police performance.

When vehicle crime peaks in West Yorkshire

Average recorded vehicle crime offences per day in each calendar month, over three years (September 2023 to August 2026):

Month	Per day
January	45.2
February	43.1
March	45.1
April	45.0
May	43.8
June	44.9
July	44.9
August	46.5
September	46.9
October	47.9
November	46.0
December	43.0

Data notes

Figures are police.uk street-level records for West Yorkshire Police, September 2023 to August 2026. They are operational data, not official statistics, and can differ from ONS and Home Office publications.
0.5% of the vehicle crime offences the force recorded in the year to August 2026 had no location; they count towards the force total only.
Council areas are named as they are today, so police.uk's older district names are counted under the council that replaced them in April 2023: Craven, Harrogate, Selby as North Yorkshire.
How the study is compiled: methodology.

Edition history

Figures quoted from an earlier edition stay traceable here:

Edition	Vehicle crime offences (year to edition)	Change on the year before
August 2026	15,819	+0.1%

If you are reviewing how your car is protected

This section is practical guidance, not a finding from the data.

Check what your cameras show at night. A camera only helps identify a suspect if a face or a number plate can be made out after dark, where the car is actually parked.
Keep footage long enough to hand over. Damage or a theft noticed days later needs a recording that still exists. Work out how many days your recorder holds with the CCTV storage calculator.
Know the rules before you record beyond your boundary. Our UK vehicle crime study summarises the ICO guidance on home CCTV.

Reuse and sources

police.uk open data and its August 2026 archive.
Population: Office for National Statistics, Census 2021 usual residents (Nomis).

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Free to reuse: journalists and community groups may quote these figures; please credit Clear Security with a link (any rel is fine). A spreadsheet of the tables is available on request from Clear Security.

About this study. Compiled by Clear Security LTD, 16 Wimborne Road, Luton LU1 1PD. No police force or public body was involved in, or has endorsed, this analysis.