Yesterday, Thursday 16th July 2026 it was proudly reported by the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson, that Wiltshire Police have been placed in Tier 1 (Yes that’s the top tier) for performance by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), with inspectors recognising improved performance and evidence the force is moving in the right direction.
Crime data as published on police.uk, shows an increase in crime in Wiltshire from 50,066 in 2024 to 52,005 in 2025 an increase of 3.7%, and so far, the data for 2026 (January to May), doesn’t show a change in that direction either.
For the top five crimes in Wiltshire as a whole and Calne in particular, the picture doesn’t look very promising, with only Anti-social Behaviour showing a downward trend for Wiltshire Only in 2024 to 2025, and the data for 2026 so far, indicates that trend is reversing (see table below)
| Category | 2024 Jan to Dec | 2025 Jan to Dec | % Change | 2026 Jan – May |
| Wiltshire | ||||
| Violence and sexual offences | 17,734 | 19,618 | 9.60% | 8,229 |
| Anti-social behaviour | 10,759 | 9,935 | -8.29% | 3,964 |
| Criminal damage and arson | 4,234 | 4,274 | 0.94% | 1,774 |
| Public order | 3,657 | 4,078 | 10.32% | 1,682 |
| Shoplifting | 3,684 | 4,022 | 8.40% | 1,534 |
| Calne | ||||
| Violence and sexual offences | 410 | 515 | 20.39% | 197 |
| Anti-social behaviour | 221 | 233 | 5.15% | 64 |
| Criminal damage and arson | 78 | 84 | 7.14% | 28 |
| Public order | 90 | 100 | 10.00% | 33 |
| Other theft | 44 | 55 | 20.00% | 18 |
I am yet to see more bobbies on the beat and with the crime data as published, I am struggling to identify the “Improved Performance” and really cannot comprehend the idea that increased crime is evidence, that the force is moving in the right direction.
In particular one of the PCCs key priorities quite rightly, was to protect Women and Girls and target men carrying out viloent and sexual offences against them. Sadly the data shows that these crimes are stubbonly not dropping and even slowley trending upwards, yet this is evidence of improved performance and moving in the right direction.
The following graphs shows the directon of crime from 2021, and until recently a steady decline, but the trend is now going the wrong way again.
What is it that these inspectors from HMICFRS are viewing through their rose-tinted spectacles, that is not obvious to us mere members of the public?
Background for context.
I have been tracking Crime Data for Wiltshire as a whole and Calne Town in particular since Jan 2021 as published by Wiltshire Police on the police.uk website. You can download my Excel Spreadsheets for Wiltshire and Calne by clicking on the links below
The data on police.uk is normally published monthly, two months in arrears, so at the time of writing only data up to May 2026 was available, normally only three years of data is retained on police.uk, but I have been recording it since Jan 2021.