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DSafety Grade
Safety in Brandon · police.uk, 2023–2026

Brandon records more crime per resident than 90% of UK towns

The typical town its size sees 0.4 cases of possession of weapons per 1,000 residents; Brandon sees 1.5, or 14 in the 12 months to August 2026. Per 1,000 residents a year, 43.5 violent and sexual offences and 19.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded. From September 2023 to August 2026, crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area put it at D for safety: #28 of 52 in County Durham. Violent crime barely moved in a year.

Violent crime
43.5
per 1,000 residents a year · graded
Homes & vehicles
19
burglary, vehicle crime, damage · graded
Shoplifting & theft
9.6
per 1,000 a year · not graded
Anti-social behaviour
17.5
reports per 1,000 a year · not graded

Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.

What stands out · In brief

What stands out about safety in Brandon

More crime than many places its size

Of 411 UK towns of 7,000 to 13,000 people, Brandon has the 356th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Chadwell St Mary, Thorne and Abersychan, higher than Bolsover, Darfield and Sandown. Towns its size ↓

Neighbourhood ranks

32% of Brandon’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 0% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓

Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Brandon’s grade

Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 8% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people: more crime than most for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
Violent and sexual offences (43.5 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 12% of UK towns
Homes and vehicles (19 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 10% of UK towns
DD

A firm grade. Built on 1,782 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Brandon against every UK town of 1,000 or more.

Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.

By type

What police recorded in the last 12 months

Violence & sexual offences43.2
Anti-social behaviour19.1
Criminal damage & arson14.7
Public order7.9
Shoplifting6.1
Burglary4.7
Other crime4
Other theft3.9
Vehicle crime3.1
Drugs1.5
Possession of weapons1.5
Robbery0.5
Theft from the person0.1
Bicycle theft0
Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Not gradedTypical town its size

Against the typical town its size, Brandon runs highest on possession of weapons (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.4), shoplifting (6.1 per 1,000 against 1.8) and criminal damage & arson (14.7 per 1,000 against 4.5).

Show as a table
CategoryIn the gradeReportsPer 1,000Typical
Violence & sexual offencesViolent41143.222.4
Anti-social behaviournot graded18219.18.8
Criminal damage & arsonHome & vehicle14014.74.5
Public ordernot graded757.93.6
Shopliftingnot graded586.11.8
BurglaryHome & vehicle454.71.9
Other crimenot graded3841.5
Other theftnot graded373.93.2
Vehicle crimeHome & vehicle293.12
Drugsnot graded141.51
Possession of weaponsViolent141.50.4
RobberyViolent50.50.2
Theft from the personnot graded10.10
Bicycle theftnot graded000.1

“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.

Towns its size

Set against 411 towns its size, Brandon is 356th

#TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesShops & theftSafety
1Greasby Merseyside9,17511.33.72.5A
…
71Egglescliffe County Durham10,25018.110.412B
…
303Pelton and Ouston County Durham7,3053120.46.8C−
…
353Bolsover Derbyshire11,22842.819.513.2D
354Darfield South Yorkshire7,2093824.47.4D
355Sandown Isle of Wight11,65247.714.822.9D
356Brandon County Durham9,50843.5199.6D
357Horbury West Yorkshire9,86847.315.39.2D
358Brecon Powys8,25747.914.910.2D
359Minehead Somerset11,75250.112.822.7D
…
376Crook County Durham9,71745.42613.1D
…
387Annfield Plain County Durham7,78650.624.510.8D
…
411City of London London7,820252.8111.5710D−

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 Brandon, and others in County Durham.

1,000 residents · one year

Crime in Brandon per 1,000 residents

Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Shoplifting & theft (not graded)
430
violent and sexual offences, 12 months to August 2026
214
homes & vehicles
96
shoplifting & theft
78
of the three, per 1,000

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 23 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 10 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.

Neighbourhoods · England-wide rank

32% of Brandon residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods

15%1
17%2
0%3
38%4
30%5
0%6
0%7
0%8
0%9
0%10
Higher crimeLower crime

0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 32% 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.

Brandon’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 happened next

Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns

Violent crime
Brandon
All UK towns
Homes & vehicles
Brandon
All UK towns
Went to courtSuspect identified, unable to prosecuteNo suspect identifiedCaution, local resolution, otherStill open

No suspect was identified for 65% of Brandon’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 9% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (69% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 2% 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. 537 crimes.

Trend · monthly

Violent crime held steady over the year

“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 -3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +37% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +43% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +23% (towns its size +0%).

Where in Brandon

Where in Brandon police recorded crime

Public places police.uk named crimes and ASB, 3 years
At or nearReportsMostly
Supermarkets12248% shoplifting & theft
Petrol stations11925% violent
Car parks9056% violent

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 Brandon. We show only these, never streets or homes.

Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.

On the roads

No one died in a collision on Brandon’s roads in 2021–2025

Police recorded 23 collisions with injuries inside Brandon in five years. 11 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 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 Brandon is one of them.

Counting serious injuries too, Brandon had 23.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).

0
people killed, 2021–2025
11
killed or seriously injured
4
of them on foot
0
of them on a bicycle

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 Brandon’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Neighbours

Crime in the places around Brandon

ABCD
TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesSafety
Brandon9,50843.519D
New Brancepeth1,28055.214.8D
Ushaw Moor and Bearpark6,48341.817.7D
Durham50,50240.616.7D
Spennymoor20,40149.727.6D−
High Shincliffe1,0456.12.9A+
Willington5,68558.433.1D−
Esh Winning3,87738.712.6C−

Brandon records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Ushaw Moor and Bearpark, 2.1 miles away, records 41.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Brandon’s 43.5.

Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.

How to read these numbers

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 Brandon 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 Brandon

Is Brandon safe?

Police recorded 43.5 violent and sexual offences and 19 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Brandon’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 10% of UK towns. Among 411 UK towns of 7,000 to 13,000 people, Brandon is 356th from the least crime.

Is crime going up in Brandon?

In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 37%, shoplifting and theft rose 43% and anti-social behaviour rose 23%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.

What is the most common crime in Brandon?

Violence & sexual offences: 411 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (140) and public order (75), with 182 reports of anti-social behaviour.

How does Brandon 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 Brandon’s 43.5 and 19, 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.