Photo: John Salmon · CC BY-SA 2.0Wittering records vehicle crime at 2.4 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence rose 24% in a year. Even so, on violence it beats 62% of UK towns, and on burglary, vehicle crime and damage 61%. Its Safety Grade, B, rests on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: less crime per resident than 63% of UK towns. Per 1,000 residents a year, 19.2 violent and sexual offences and 8.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Wittering
About the middle for a town its size
Of 856 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000 people, Wittering has the 379th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Killyleagh, Little Clacton and Mayland, higher than Bampton, Buckden and Shenley. Towns its size ↓
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 24% more violent crime per resident in Wittering than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Wittering’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 220 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Wittering against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Wittering is a military garrison town: most residents serve or work for the armed forces and live in service housing, so it keeps its grades but isn’t ranked against other towns.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How crime in Wittering has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-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 +24% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +19% (towns its size +0%).
How Wittering’s neighbourhoods rank in England
50% 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.
Wittering’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, Wittering runs highest on vehicle crime (4.9 per 1,000 against 2). Criminal damage & arson sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 61 | 22.8 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 25 | 9.3 | 8.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 13 | 4.9 | 2 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 10 | 3.7 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 6 | 2.2 | 3.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 6 | 2.2 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 4 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 3 | 1.1 | 3.2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 2 | 0.7 | 1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 0 | 0 | 1.8 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Crime in Wittering 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 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 1 shoplifting and theft report, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Wittering is 379th of 856 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richhill Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 2,738 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 3 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 45 | Hemingford Grey Cambridgeshire | 3,372 | 6.8 | 7.8 | 3.8 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 50 | Duxford Cambridgeshire | 2,216 | 9.9 | 5 | 1.2 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 62 | Over Cambridgeshire | 2,898 | 10.8 | 4.6 | 1.3 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 105 | Coates and Eastrea Cambridgeshire | 2,313 | 14 | 3.6 | 1.6 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 376 | Bampton Oxfordshire | 2,994 | 21.6 | 5.7 | 6 | B |
| 377 | Buckden Cambridgeshire | 2,757 | 19.5 | 7.9 | 3.1 | B |
| 378 | Shenley Hertfordshire | 3,556 | 17.8 | 9.6 | 4.2 | B |
| 379 | Wittering Cambridgeshire | 2,678 | 19.2 | 8.2 | 2.2 | B |
| 380 | Sway Hampshire | 2,437 | 14 | 13.5 | 5.1 | B |
| 381 | Pewsey Wiltshire | 3,792 | 20.2 | 7.2 | 3.1 | B |
| 382 | Holme upon Spalding Moor East Riding of Yorkshire | 2,547 | 20.6 | 6.9 | 4.1 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 856 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Wittering, and others in Cambridgeshire.
One person died in collisions on Wittering’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 6 collisions with injuries inside Wittering in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 2 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, so with numbers this small a single collision changes the picture; Wittering’s one death is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Wittering’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 2 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Wittering had 2.
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 Wittering’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Wittering
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wittering | 2,678 | 19.2 | 8.2 | B |
| Barnack | 1,007 | 20.2 | 14.9 | C+ |
| Easton on the Hill | 1,096 | 19.2 | 5.2 | B+ |
| Stamford | 20,745 | 27.6 | 8.3 | C+ |
| King's Cliffe | 1,581 | 12 | 12.4 | B+ |
| Helpston | 1,249 | 11.2 | 7.5 | A |
| Castor and Ailsworth | 1,461 | 17.1 | 10.3 | B |
| Ketton | 1,618 | 11.7 | 11.1 | A− |
Wittering records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Barnack and Stamford record more. Easton on the Hill, 3.1 miles away, records 19.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Wittering’s 19.2.
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 Wittering 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 Wittering
Is Wittering safe?
Police recorded 19.2 violent and sexual offences and 8.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Wittering’s built-up area). That earns a B for safety: less crime per resident than 63% of UK towns. Among 856 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000 people, Wittering is 379th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Wittering?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 24%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 61%, shoplifting and theft fell 20% and anti-social behaviour rose 19%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Wittering?
Violence & sexual offences: 61 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (13) and criminal damage & arson (10), with 25 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Wittering compare with Peterborough?
Peterborough records 54.2 violent and sexual offences and 21.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Wittering’s 19.2 and 8.2, 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.