Photo: Richard Humphrey · CC BY-SA 2.0March records bicycle theft at 3.2 times the rate of a typical town its size
Its letter overall is C− (#44 of 50 in Cambridgeshire): more crime per resident than 79% of UK towns, from crimes police recorded inside its built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026. Each year brought 37.8 violent and sexual offences and 12.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. Violent crime here is higher than in 81% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 71%.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in March
More crime than many places its size
Of 268 UK towns of 15,000 to 29,000 people, March has the 166th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Stapleford, Witham and Kempston, higher than Sunbury-on-Thames, Totton and Burnham-on-Sea. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind March’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 3,222 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks March 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, March runs highest on bicycle theft (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.3), possession of weapons (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.7) and other crime (3 per 1,000 against 1.8). Burglary and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 833 | 39 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 387 | 18.1 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 153 | 7.2 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 93 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 88 | 4.1 | 5.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 63 | 3 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 62 | 2.9 | 1.9 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 61 | 2.9 | 6.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 60 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 35 | 1.6 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 25 | 1.2 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 23 | 1.1 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 11 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 10 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
“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 March 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 9 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
166th of 268: March among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Streetly West Midlands | 16,790 | 11.2 | 9 | 5.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 68 | St Ives Cambridgeshire | 16,818 | 26.2 | 9.3 | 17.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 79 | Ely Cambridgeshire | 19,185 | 25.5 | 11.3 | 16.2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 163 | Sunbury-on-Thames Surrey | 21,476 | 31.9 | 18 | 11.1 | C− |
| 164 | Totton Hampshire | 28,093 | 35.3 | 14.7 | 15.1 | C− |
| 165 | Burnham-on-Sea Somerset | 16,317 | 39.9 | 10.3 | 13.4 | C− |
| 166 | March Cambridgeshire | 21,345 | 37.8 | 12.7 | 11 | C− |
| 167 | Melton Mowbray Leicestershire | 27,451 | 35.1 | 15.7 | 17.3 | C− |
| 168 | Tonypandy Mid Glamorgan | 17,209 | 40.1 | 10.7 | 8.2 | C− |
| 169 | Yate Gloucestershire | 28,352 | 38.4 | 12.7 | 13.2 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 218 | Huntingdon Cambridgeshire | 25,603 | 44.6 | 16.4 | 19.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 250 | Wisbech Cambridgeshire | 26,800 | 54.1 | 21.9 | 28.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 268 | 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 March, and others in Cambridgeshire.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 64% of March’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 4% 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. 982 crimes.
How March’s neighbourhoods rank in England
22% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 19% 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.
March’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.
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 +3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -11% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -31% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +26% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in March East, March North and March West
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March East | 7,660 | 33.2 | 12.5 | |
| March North | 7,042 | 36.9 | 13.1 | |
| March West | 6,643 | 43.8 | 12.2 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 323 | 34% violent |
| Supermarkets | 161 | 69% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 93 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 65 | 40% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 49 | 37% violent |
| Police stations | 30 | 30% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 March. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside March’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Four people died in collisions on March’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 96 collisions with injuries inside March in five years, in which four people died. 24 people were killed or seriously injured: 3 on foot and 5 on a bicycle.
That is more than 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 March’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so March’s own rate (3.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, March had 22.5 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).
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 March’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around March
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | 21,345 | 37.8 | 12.7 | C− |
| Doddington and Wimblington | 4,279 | 25.9 | 8.6 | B− |
| Manea | 2,638 | 23 | 8.3 | B− |
| Friday Bridge | 1,411 | 25 | 12.5 | C+ |
| Benwick | 1,145 | 18.6 | 5.5 | B+ |
| Upwell and Outwell | 3,664 | 28.4 | 13.1 | C |
| Chatteris | 11,022 | 26.5 | 8.3 | B− |
| Wisbech St Mary | 1,069 | 30.3 | 9 | C+ |
March records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Doddington and Wimblington, 3.4 miles away, records 25.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against March’s 37.8.
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 March 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 March
Is March safe?
Police recorded 37.8 violent and sexual offences and 12.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside March’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 21% of UK towns. Among 268 UK towns of 15,000 to 29,000 people, March is 166th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of March?
By council ward, March East, March North and March West record the least violent and household crime per resident: 33.2, 36.9 and 43.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 43.8 in March West.
Is crime going up in March?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 11%, shoplifting and theft fell 31% and anti-social behaviour rose 26%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in March?
Violence & sexual offences: 833 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (153) and other theft (93), with 387 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does March compare with Wisbech?
Wisbech records 54.1 violent and sexual offences and 21.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against March’s 37.8 and 12.7, 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.