Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Horden records more crime than almost every UK town
Shoplifting runs at 38.5 per 1,000 residents in Horden, against 1.8 in a typical town its size: police recorded 262 in the 12 months to August 2026. Typical years here bring 62.9 violent and sexual offences plus 39.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. Counting crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades D− for safety: #46 of 52 in County Durham. Violent crime barely moved in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Horden
Neighbourhood ranks
100% of Horden’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.
What’s behind Horden’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 2,079 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Horden 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, Horden runs highest on shoplifting (38.5 per 1,000 against 1.8), burglary (12 per 1,000 against 1.9) and drugs (5.4 per 1,000 against 1).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 444 | 65.2 | 22.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 262 | 38.5 | 1.8 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 178 | 26.2 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 148 | 21.7 | 4.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 82 | 12 | 1.9 |
| Public order | not graded | 65 | 9.6 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 59 | 8.7 | 3.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 39 | 5.7 | 1.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 37 | 5.4 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 33 | 4.8 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 9 | 1.3 | 0.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 6 | 0.9 | 0 |
| Robbery | Violent | 5 | 0.7 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 4 | 0.6 | 0.1 |
“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.
100% of Horden residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 100% 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.
Horden’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.
How Horden compares with UK towns of 5,000 to 9,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 274 | Barnard Castle County Durham | 5,783 | 24.9 | 13.7 | 14.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 379 | Pelton and Ouston County Durham | 7,305 | 31 | 20.4 | 6.8 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 426 | Ushaw Moor and Bearpark County Durham | 6,483 | 41.8 | 17.7 | 15.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 429 | Sacriston County Durham | 5,186 | 38.5 | 23.3 | 17.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 474 | Llandrindod Wells Powys | 5,429 | 78 | 20.7 | 15.9 | D− |
| 475 | Goldthorpe South Yorkshire | 7,493 | 53.8 | 45.2 | 15.7 | D− |
| 476 | Highbridge Somerset | 5,366 | 82.7 | 18 | 27.7 | D− |
| 477 | Horden County Durham | 6,805 | 62.9 | 39 | 42.4 | D− |
| 478 | Ferryhill County Durham | 8,857 | 69.8 | 36.5 | 31.2 | D− |
| 479 | Jaywick Essex | 5,080 | 87.5 | 28.9 | 11 | D− |
| 480 | Stainforth South Yorkshire | 5,999 | 72.5 | 49.7 | 14.4 | D− |
| 481 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Horden, and others in County Durham.
Crime in Horden 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 39 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 49 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 Horden identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 60% of Horden’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 12% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (62% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 11% 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. 670 crimes.
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 +4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +7% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +20% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +6% (towns its size +0%).
Where in Horden police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 123 | 36% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 58 | 43% anti-social behaviour |
| Car parks | 31 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
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 Horden. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Horden’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 18 collisions with injuries inside Horden in five years. 8 people were 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 Horden is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Horden’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 6 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Horden had 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 Horden’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Horden
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horden | 6,805 | 62.9 | 39 | D− |
| Peterlee | 19,750 | 58.1 | 30.5 | D− |
| Blackhall Colliery | 4,577 | 49.1 | 23.1 | D |
| Easington | 6,968 | 54.5 | 27.5 | D− |
| Shotton Colliery | 4,943 | 40.4 | 29.5 | D |
| Wingate | 5,033 | 37.8 | 35.4 | D |
| Haswell | 1,185 | 30.4 | 16.9 | C |
| Wheatley Hill | 3,148 | 50.5 | 43.9 | D− |
Horden records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Peterlee, 1.1 miles away, records 58.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Horden’s 62.9.
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 Horden 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 Horden
Is Horden safe?
Police recorded 62.9 violent and sexual offences and 39 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Horden’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: behind almost every UK town. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Horden has less crime per resident than 1%.
Is crime going up in Horden?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 7%, shoplifting and theft rose 20% and anti-social behaviour rose 6%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Horden?
Violence & sexual offences: 444 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (262) and criminal damage & arson (148), with 178 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Horden compare with Hartlepool?
Hartlepool records 63.1 violent and sexual offences and 28.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Horden’s 62.9 and 39, 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.