Photo: Simon Speed · Public domainMore burglary, vehicle crime and damage is recorded per resident in Kempston than in 83% of UK towns
Police counts work out at 35.5 violent and sexual offences and 16.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents annually. Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it records less crime per resident than 36%. Counting crimes police recorded inside Kempston’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades C− for safety: #30 of 33 in Bedfordshire.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Kempston
More crime than many places its size
Of 251 UK towns of 16,000 to 31,000 people, Kempston has the 155th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Maesteg and Heysham, higher than Tonypandy, Yate and Witham. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Kempston’s C−
A firm grade. Built on 3,521 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Kempston against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How Kempston’s neighbourhoods rank in England
18% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Kempston’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Kempston runs highest on drugs (4.1 per 1,000 against 1.9), shoplifting (11.8 per 1,000 against 6.1) and vehicle crime (5 per 1,000 against 2.8).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 796 | 34.9 | 30.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 269 | 11.8 | 6.1 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 267 | 11.7 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 174 | 7.6 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 165 | 7.2 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 114 | 5 | 2.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 110 | 4.8 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 93 | 4.1 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 67 | 2.9 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 54 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 20 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 14 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 13 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 9 | 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.
Crime in Kempston 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 18 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Lowest recorded crime in Kempston North, Kempston South and Kempston Rural; highest in Kempston West
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kempston North | 3,716 | 18.1 | 6.7 | |
| Kempston South | 4,106 | 22.2 | 11.6 | |
| Kempston Rural | 1,540 | 21.6 | 12.6 | |
| Cauldwell | 508 | 24.3 | 19.7 | |
| Kempston Central and East | 7,383 | 36.4 | 21.1 | |
| Kempston West | 5,526 | 60.3 | 19.3 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 272 | 52% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 166 | 79% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 95 | 46% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 22 | 68% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Kempston West records 2.2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Kempston. 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 Kempston. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Kempston’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Set against 251 towns its size, Kempston is 155th
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 55 | Biggleswade Bedfordshire | 21,945 | 23.8 | 11 | 13.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 152 | Tonypandy Mid Glamorgan | 17,209 | 40.1 | 10.7 | 8.2 | C− |
| 153 | Yate Gloucestershire | 28,352 | 38.4 | 12.7 | 13.2 | C− |
| 154 | Witham Essex | 27,395 | 37.9 | 13.6 | 13.2 | C− |
| 155 | Kempston Bedfordshire | 22,779 | 35.5 | 16 | 18.6 | C− |
| 156 | Newton Abbot Devon | 29,650 | 40.4 | 11.2 | 14.7 | C− |
| 157 | Bingley West Yorkshire | 21,334 | 37 | 14.6 | 10.1 | C− |
| 158 | Sleaford Lincolnshire | 18,028 | 41.4 | 10.6 | 17.5 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 191 | Houghton Regis Bedfordshire | 18,814 | 40.5 | 18.4 | 11.5 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 251 | 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 Kempston, and others in Bedfordshire.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 -2% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -9% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -18% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -9% (towns its size -4%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 69% of Kempston’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (65% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 11% of violent and 11% 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. 1,132 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Kempston’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 138 collisions with injuries inside Kempston in five years. 20 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 on foot and 6 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 Kempston’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Kempston’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Kempston had 17.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Kempston’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Kempston
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kempston | 22,779 | 35.5 | 16 | C− |
| Great Denham | 4,363 | 20.4 | 12.2 | B− |
| Wootton | 7,567 | 16.4 | 5.6 | A− |
| Bedford | 97,226 | 44.5 | 20.3 | D |
| Wixams | 6,044 | 35 | 12.4 | C− |
| Bromham | 4,652 | 8.5 | 5.2 | A+ |
| Shortstown | 4,837 | 31.4 | 12.3 | C |
| Stewartby | 2,546 | 21.3 | 9.4 | B− |
Kempston records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Bedford records more. Great Denham, 0.9 miles away, records 20.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Kempston’s 35.5.
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 Kempston 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 Kempston
Is Kempston safe?
Police recorded 35.5 violent and sexual offences and 16 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Kempston’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 20% of UK towns. Among 251 UK towns of 16,000 to 31,000 people, Kempston is 155th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Kempston?
By council ward, Kempston North, Kempston South and Kempston Rural record the least violent and household crime per resident: 18.1, 22.2 and 21.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 60.3 in Kempston West.
Is crime going up in Kempston?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 9%, shoplifting and theft fell 18% and anti-social behaviour fell 9%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Kempston?
Violence & sexual offences: 796 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (269) and criminal damage & arson (174), with 267 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Kempston compare with Bedford?
Bedford records 44.5 violent and sexual offences and 20.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Kempston’s 35.5 and 16, 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.