Photo: Barry Hunter · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Caversham sees less crime than 93% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people
Violence recorded locally climbed 19% in a year. Per 1,000 residents a year, 16.7 violent and sexual offences and 9.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded. Police recorded 369 cases of shoplifting in Caversham in the 12 months to August 2026, a rate of 11.2 per 1,000 against a typical 6.1.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Caversham
Less crime than most places its size
Of 200 UK towns of 23,000 to 45,000 people, Caversham has the 10th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater, Ascot and Wilmslow, higher than Carrickfergus, Seaford and West Bridgford. 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. 38% of Caversham’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 19% more violent crime per resident in Caversham than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Caversham grades B+ for safety
A firm grade. Built on 2,549 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Caversham against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
A third of Caversham residents live in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
64% 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.
Caversham’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, Caversham runs highest on shoplifting (11.2 per 1,000 against 6.1). Public order and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 585 | 17.7 | 30.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 369 | 11.2 | 6.1 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 140 | 4.2 | 12.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 126 | 3.8 | 4.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 122 | 3.7 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 99 | 3 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 93 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 62 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 42 | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 29 | 0.9 | 1.9 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 28 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 23 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 7 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.2 | 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 of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Caversham places 10th of 200 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Woodley Berkshire | 28,019 | 18.1 | 5.8 | 5.5 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Carrickfergus Mid and East Antrim | 28,141 | 18.7 | 6.3 | 6.8 | B+ |
| 8 | Seaford East Sussex | 23,865 | 18.6 | 6.4 | 8 | B+ |
| 9 | West Bridgford Nottinghamshire | 36,489 | 16.6 | 9 | 21.7 | B+ |
| 10 | Caversham Berkshire | 33,038 | 16.7 | 9 | 14.3 | B+ |
| 11 | Billericay Essex | 34,068 | 16.9 | 9.1 | 8.8 | B+ |
| 12 | Rustington West Sussex | 33,885 | 17.3 | 8.9 | 9.7 | B+ |
| 13 | Fleet Hampshire | 37,800 | 20.6 | 7 | 7.4 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Ascot Berkshire | 24,003 | 18.8 | 9.6 | 6.6 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 48 | Thatcham Berkshire | 25,537 | 29.7 | 8 | 10.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 109 | Windsor Berkshire | 31,569 | 34 | 16.3 | 21.7 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 200 | 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 Caversham, and others in Berkshire.
How crime in Caversham 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 +19% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +4% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +22% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -17% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Caversham 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 8 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 16 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 Caversham Heights, Emmer Green and Thames; highest in Caversham
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caversham Heights | 9,533 | 10.5 | 6.7 | |
| Emmer Green | 9,567 | 15.3 | 5.4 | |
| Thames | 2,531 | 17.8 | 8.4 | |
| Caversham | 11,407 | 22.9 | 14 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 465 | 83% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 351 | 79% shoplifting & theft |
| Conference and exhibition centres | 336 | 85% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 38 | 47% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 30 | 67% anti-social behaviour |
| Nightclubs | 22 | 55% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Caversham records 1.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Caversham. 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 Caversham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Caversham’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 67% of Caversham’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” (65% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 3% 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. 878 crimes.
Two people died in collisions on Caversham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 100 collisions with injuries inside Caversham in five years, in which two people died (2 were pedestrians). 19 people were killed or seriously injured: 10 on foot and 4 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 Caversham’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Caversham’s own rate (1.2) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Caversham had 11.2 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 Caversham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Caversham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caversham | 33,038 | 16.7 | 9 | B+ |
| Reading | 203,789 | 39.6 | 15.5 | C− |
| Sonning | 1,615 | 9.3 | 7.6 | A |
| Sonning Common | 5,264 | 16.1 | 5.5 | A− |
| Woodley | 28,019 | 18.1 | 5.8 | B+ |
| Charvil | 3,158 | 10.6 | 8.1 | A |
| Lower Shiplake | 1,086 | 5.8 | 4 | A+ |
| Twyford | 8,072 | 11.8 | 9.4 | A− |
Caversham records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Reading records more. Sonning, 2.8 miles away, records 9.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Caversham’s 16.7.
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 Caversham 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 Caversham
Is Caversham safe?
Police recorded 16.7 violent and sexual offences and 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 Caversham’s built-up area). That earns a B+ for safety: less crime per resident than 68% of UK towns. Among 200 UK towns of 23,000 to 45,000 people, Caversham is 10th from the least crime. 38% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Caversham?
By council ward, Caversham Heights, Emmer Green and Thames record the least violent and household crime per resident: 10.5, 15.3 and 17.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 22.9 in Caversham.
Is crime going up in Caversham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 19%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 22% and anti-social behaviour fell 17%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Caversham?
Violence & sexual offences: 585 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (369) and other theft (126), with 140 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Caversham compare with Reading?
Reading records 39.6 violent and sexual offences and 15.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Caversham’s 16.7 and 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.