Photo: Francis Hannaway · CC BY-SA 3.0Bowburn stands out for shoplifting: 4.9 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violence recorded locally climbed 32% in a year. Taking everything together, Bowburn scores C− (#19 of 52 in County Durham): more crime per resident than 85% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. More crime per resident is recorded in 11% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Police counts work out at 37.7 violent and sexual offences and 18.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Bowburn
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 32% more violent crime per resident in Bowburn than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage rose 46% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 823 UK towns of 3,000 to 7,000 people, Bowburn has the 729th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Axminster, Moulton and Huthwaite, higher than Neyland, Langley Park and Locking. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Bowburn’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 820 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Bowburn 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 crime in Bowburn 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 +32% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +46% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -30% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +51% (towns its size +0%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Bowburn runs highest on shoplifting (9.1 per 1,000 against 1.8), criminal damage & arson (15.7 per 1,000 against 4.5) and anti-social behaviour (29.9 per 1,000 against 8.8).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 194 | 40.1 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 145 | 29.9 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 76 | 15.7 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 46 | 9.5 | 3.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 44 | 9.1 | 1.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 26 | 5.4 | 3.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 20 | 4.1 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 16 | 3.3 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 9 | 1.9 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 7 | 1.4 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 1 | 0.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 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.
How Bowburn’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.
Bowburn’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.
729th of 823: Bowburn among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 130 | Wynyard County Durham | 4,040 | 16.6 | 5.5 | 12.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 337 | Great Lumley County Durham | 3,627 | 21.1 | 8.6 | 3.3 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 349 | Lanchester County Durham | 3,510 | 19.6 | 10.5 | 5.5 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 367 | Sedgefield County Durham | 4,979 | 19.6 | 11.3 | 13.5 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 726 | Neyland Dyfed | 3,250 | 40 | 15.8 | 7.3 | C− |
| 727 | Langley Park County Durham | 4,031 | 39.1 | 17 | 9.2 | C− |
| 728 | Locking Somerset | 3,819 | 44.6 | 11.8 | 6.5 | C− |
| 729 | Bowburn County Durham | 4,843 | 37.7 | 18.8 | 20.1 | C− |
| 730 | Walton-on-the-Naze Essex | 6,980 | 40.4 | 16 | 11.7 | C− |
| 731 | Cranbrook Devon | 4,936 | 46 | 10.7 | 7.1 | C− |
| 732 | Steeton West Yorkshire | 5,019 | 44.5 | 12.4 | 8.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 823 | 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 Bowburn, and others in County Durham.
Crime in Bowburn 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 20 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 15 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Bowburn identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 60% of Bowburn’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” (61% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 12% 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. 301 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Bowburn’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 8 collisions with injuries inside Bowburn in five years. 1 person was killed or seriously injured: 0 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, and Bowburn is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Bowburn’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 4 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Bowburn had 1.
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 Bowburn’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Bowburn
Bowburn records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. High Shincliffe, 1.2 miles away, records 6.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Bowburn’s 37.7.
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 Bowburn 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 Bowburn
Is Bowburn safe?
Police recorded 37.7 violent and sexual offences and 18.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Bowburn’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 15% of UK towns. Among 823 UK towns of 3,000 to 7,000 people, Bowburn is 729th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Bowburn?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 32%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 46%, shoplifting and theft fell 30% and anti-social behaviour rose 51%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Bowburn?
Violence & sexual offences: 194 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (76) and public order (46), with 145 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Bowburn compare with Durham?
Durham records 40.6 violent and sexual offences and 16.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Bowburn’s 37.7 and 18.8, 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.