Police routinely breathalyse drivers they suspect have been drinking, but also carry out an annual Christmas crackdown, breath-testing more than three times as many drivers in December as in other months. However, only about 1.6% of these extra tests catch a drink driver, compared to about 14% of routine tests. larger image | annotated R code to produce this chart Data source: Home Office, 2019 Notes ‘Extra’ tests associated with the annual Chirstmas crackdown on drink driving were calculated as the mean number of tests conducted in December each year minus the mean number of tests conducted in other months.

About 100 people a year die following contact with police in England and Wales. Public debate has often focused on deaths in custody or police shootings, but people are much more likely to die in collisions with police vehicles or in suicides following release from custody.

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Data source: Independent Office for Police Conduct, 2019

About 1.4 million criminal cases were prosecuted in England and Wales last year. Motoring offences and minor non-violent offences such as TV licence evasion are the most commonly prosecuted, with many more cases in those categories dealt with by fixed penalties or other out-of-court disposals.

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Data source: Ministry of Justice, 2019

About 5.3 million people in England and Wales (about 10% of the population aged 10 or over) have their DNA stored on the National DNA Database, one of the largest DNA databases in the world. Police routinely collect DNA from arrested suspects, and it can be stored (often permanently) if they are convicted of almost any offence. larger image | annotated R code to produce this chart Data source: Home Office, 2019

Over the past five years, more than 1,400 people have been arrested on average each season for football-related offences across the top five English divisions, with incidents reported at over 1,000 different matches. Most arrests are for violence, and about half are for offences outside the grounds themselves. More fans are arrested at away games, even though far fewer fans typically travel than attend home games. However, the rate of arrests at football matches overall is low, at about 3 arrests per 100,000 match spectators.