Photo: M J Richardson · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Bedford records more crime than 91% of UK towns
Counting crimes police recorded inside Bedford’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades D for safety. Violent crime was up 11% in a year. With 173 cases in the 12 months to August 2026, bicycle theft reaches 1.8 per 1,000 residents locally, well above the typical 0.9. Police counts work out at 44.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Bedford
One ward carries much of the rate
Castle ward recorded 3,311 of Bedford’s 12,988 violent and sexual offences in three years: 121.1 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Bedford the figure is 36.6. Where in Bedford ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% more violent crime per resident in Bedford than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 73 UK towns and cities of 68,000 to 131,000 people, Bedford has the 43rd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Gateshead, Colchester and St Helens, higher than Maidstone, Eastbourne and Dartford. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Bedford’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 18,912 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Bedford against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Lowest recorded crime in Putnoe, Elstow and Stewartby and Newnham; highest in Castle
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Putnoe | 7,156 | 17.6 | 8.9 | |
| Elstow and Stewartby | 2,926 | 21.2 | 13.3 | |
| Newnham | 8,065 | 20.5 | 14.7 | |
| Bromham and Biddenham | 3,162 | 20.3 | 15.5 | |
| De Parys | 7,154 | 24.5 | 13.6 | |
| Brickhill | 8,161 | 22.7 | 16.3 | |
| Great Barford | 2,422 | 27.5 | 12.1 | |
| Queens Park | 9,778 | 32.8 | 13.4 | |
| Goldington | 9,800 | 32.4 | 14.3 | |
| Kingsbrook | 10,126 | 45.8 | 24.8 | |
| Cauldwell | 10,502 | 64 | 28.4 | |
| Harpur | 8,864 | 68.6 | 26.2 | |
| Castle | 9,110 | 121.1 | 42.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 2,376 | 67% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,141 | 26% violent |
| Shopping areas | 1,135 | 36% violent |
| Petrol stations | 390 | 67% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 306 | 42% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 154 | 44% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 99 | 51% anti-social behaviour |
| College and university buildings | 80 | 36% violent |
| Police stations | 55 | 49% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Castle records 3.3× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Bedford. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Bedford. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Bedford’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Bedford runs highest on bicycle theft (1.8 per 1,000 against 0.9), robbery (2.2 per 1,000 against 1.4) and vehicle crime (7.5 per 1,000 against 4.9).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 4,293 | 44.2 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,834 | 18.9 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1,451 | 14.9 | 10.3 |
| Public order | not graded | 843 | 8.7 | 7.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 769 | 7.9 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 729 | 7.5 | 4.9 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 727 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 484 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 367 | 3.8 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 276 | 2.8 | 2.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 210 | 2.2 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 173 | 1.8 | 0.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 147 | 1.5 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 92 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
Crime in Bedford per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 19 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 26 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Bedford has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +11% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -3% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +15% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +9% (towns its size -2%).
How Bedford’s neighbourhoods rank in England
25% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 21% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Bedford’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
43rd of 73: Bedford among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrogate North Yorkshire | 75,522 | 27.3 | 10.5 | 13.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 40 | Maidstone Kent | 109,503 | 46.4 | 17 | 20.1 | D |
| 41 | Eastbourne East Sussex | 99,171 | 46.2 | 17.5 | 33 | D |
| 42 | Dartford Kent | 69,131 | 43.5 | 20.8 | 17.4 | D |
| 43 | Bedford Bedfordshire | 97,226 | 44.5 | 20.3 | 23.9 | D |
| 44 | Crewe Cheshire | 74,116 | 51.3 | 14.3 | 17.6 | D |
| 45 | Harlow Essex | 93,570 | 45.5 | 20.5 | 19.4 | D |
| 46 | Birkenhead Merseyside | 109,854 | 50.1 | 17.2 | 13.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 73 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Bedford, and others in Bedfordshire.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 69% of Bedford’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 14% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% of violent and 7% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 6,371 crimes.
Four people died in collisions on Bedford’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 725 collisions with injuries inside Bedford in five years, in which four people died (2 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist). 161 people were killed or seriously injured: 54 on foot and 38 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bedford’s size would see about 5 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bedford’s own rate (0.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Bedford had 33.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 34% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Bedford’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Bedford
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford | 97,226 | 44.5 | 20.3 | D |
| Kempston | 22,779 | 35.5 | 16 | C− |
| Shortstown | 4,837 | 31.4 | 12.3 | C |
| Great Denham | 4,363 | 20.4 | 12.2 | B− |
| Clapham | 4,502 | 16.7 | 12.6 | B |
| Bromham | 4,652 | 8.5 | 5.2 | A+ |
| Oakley | 2,507 | 11.7 | 4.4 | A |
| Wixams | 6,044 | 35 | 12.4 | C− |
Bedford records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Kempston, 2.2 miles away, records 35.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Bedford’s 44.5.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Bedford sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Bedford
Is Bedford safe?
Police recorded 44.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Bedford’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 9% of UK towns. Among 73 UK towns of 68,000 to 131,000 people, Bedford is 43rd from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Bedford?
By council ward, Putnoe, Elstow and Stewartby and Newnham record the least violent and household crime per resident: 17.6, 21.2 and 20.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 121.1 in Castle.
Is crime going up in Bedford?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 15% and anti-social behaviour rose 9%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Bedford town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 306 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 42% of them violent, and Castle ward records 121.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in November.
What is the most common crime in Bedford?
Violence & sexual offences: 4,293 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (1,451) and public order (843), with 1,834 reports of anti-social behaviour.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.