Photo: David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0Dunstable records robbery at 2.7 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violence and property crime split as 31.3 violent and sexual offences and 14.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. Taking everything together, Dunstable scores C (#28 of 33 in Bedfordshire): more crime per resident than 74% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. Recorded violence held steady in a year. Violent crime here is higher than in 71% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 80%.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Dunstable
About the middle for a town its size
Of 191 UK towns of 24,000 to 47,000 people, Dunstable has the 81st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Consett, Loughton and Antrim, higher than Trowbridge, Coleraine and Canvey Island. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 15% of Dunstable’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 23% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: C for Dunstable
A firm grade. Built on 4,784 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Dunstable against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Dunstable runs highest on robbery (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.5), vehicle crime (6.6 per 1,000 against 2.8) and drugs (3 per 1,000 against 1.9). Criminal damage & arson and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,023 | 29.7 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 463 | 13.4 | 12.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 229 | 6.6 | 2.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 181 | 5.2 | 4.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 176 | 5.1 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 170 | 4.9 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 170 | 4.9 | 5.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 106 | 3.1 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 102 | 3 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 65 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 51 | 1.5 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 27 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 20 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 15 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
“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 of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Lowest recorded crime in Dunstable-Watling, Dunstable-Manshead and Dunstable-Central; highest in Dunstable-Icknield
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunstable-Watling | 9,119 | 14 | 9.2 | |
| Dunstable-Manshead | 5,872 | 25 | 11.9 | |
| Dunstable-Central | 5,133 | 29.9 | 17.1 | |
| Dunstable-Northfields | 11,380 | 35.4 | 16 | |
| Houghton Hall | 844 | 73.5 | 16.6 | |
| Dunstable-Icknield | 2,150 | 71.8 | 30.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 568 | 31% violent |
| Supermarkets | 486 | 62% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 288 | 39% violent |
| Petrol stations | 260 | 52% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 75 | 47% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 73 | 42% violent |
| Nightclubs | 29 | 38% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Houghton Hall records 2.5× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Dunstable. 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 Dunstable. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Dunstable’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in Dunstable identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 77% of Dunstable’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (69% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 6% 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. 1,635 crimes.
Crime in Dunstable 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 15 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 11 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
1 in 7 Dunstable residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
23% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 23% 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.
Dunstable’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.
Of 191 towns its size, Dunstable is 81st from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 36 | Leighton Buzzard Bedfordshire | 42,736 | 23.4 | 13.1 | 12.2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 78 | Trowbridge Wiltshire | 43,753 | 33.5 | 12 | 15.7 | C |
| 79 | Coleraine Causeway Coast and Glens | 24,483 | 33.6 | 12.4 | 13.2 | C |
| 80 | Canvey Island Essex | 38,004 | 33.6 | 12.6 | 9.7 | C |
| 81 | Dunstable Bedfordshire | 34,498 | 31.3 | 14.9 | 12.6 | C |
| 82 | Deal Kent | 28,992 | 34 | 12.8 | 8.1 | C |
| 83 | Bamber Bridge Lancashire | 40,359 | 33.4 | 13.5 | 14.9 | C |
| 84 | Bexhill-on-Sea East Sussex | 43,750 | 33.4 | 13.7 | 19.1 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 191 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Dunstable, and others in Bedfordshire.
How crime in Dunstable has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +8% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -24% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -12% (towns its size -4%).
Three people died in collisions on Dunstable’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 208 collisions with injuries inside Dunstable in five years, in which three people died (3 were pedestrians). 40 people were killed or seriously injured: 15 on foot and 5 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Dunstable’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Dunstable’s own rate (1.7) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Dunstable had 23.2 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 38% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Dunstable’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Dunstable
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunstable | 34,498 | 31.3 | 14.9 | C |
| Houghton Regis | 18,814 | 40.5 | 18.4 | D |
| Totternhoe | 1,017 | 20.3 | 12.5 | B− |
| Kensworth | 1,517 | 21.8 | 16.9 | C+ |
| Eaton Bray and Edlesborough | 4,201 | 12.3 | 11.5 | B+ |
| Caddington | 3,288 | 15.5 | 10.5 | B+ |
| Luton | 233,524 | 36.7 | 17.7 | C− |
| Hockliffe | 1,068 | 20.3 | 17.8 | C+ |
Dunstable records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Houghton Regis and Luton record more. Totternhoe, 1.7 miles away, records 20.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Dunstable’s 31.3.
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 Dunstable 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 Dunstable
Is Dunstable safe?
Police recorded 31.3 violent and sexual offences and 14.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Dunstable’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 26% of UK towns. Among 191 UK towns of 24,000 to 47,000 people, Dunstable is 81st from the least crime. 15% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Dunstable?
By council ward, Dunstable-Watling, Dunstable-Manshead and Dunstable-Central record the least violent and household crime per resident: 14, 25 and 29.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 71.8 in Dunstable-Icknield.
Is crime going up in Dunstable?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 8%, shoplifting and theft fell 24% and anti-social behaviour fell 12%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Dunstable?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,023 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (229) and other theft (181), with 463 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Dunstable compare with Luton?
Luton records 36.7 violent and sexual offences and 17.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Dunstable’s 31.3 and 14.9, over the same three years.
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.