Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime per resident in Ripley runs higher than in 91% of UK towns
The Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crimes police recorded inside Ripley’s built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026: #50 of 59 in Derbyshire. Police counts work out at 52.3 violent and sexual offences and 13.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents annually. Drugs runs at 6.4 per 1,000 residents locally, against 1.9 in a typical town its size: police recorded 130 in the 12 months to August 2026.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Ripley
More crime than many places its size
Of 290 UK towns of 14,000 to 27,000 people, Ripley has the 249th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Blaydon, Brownhills and Staines-upon-Thames, higher than Morpeth, Goole and Wath upon Dearne. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Ripley’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 4,003 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Ripley 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, Ripley runs highest on drugs (6.4 per 1,000 against 1.9), possession of weapons (1.5 per 1,000 against 0.7) and public order (10.6 per 1,000 against 5.4). Vehicle crime sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,009 | 50 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 264 | 13.1 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 214 | 10.6 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 162 | 8 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 154 | 7.6 | 6.1 |
| Drugs | not graded | 130 | 6.4 | 1.9 |
| Other theft | not graded | 99 | 4.9 | 4.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 46 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 38 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 37 | 1.8 | 2.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 30 | 1.5 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 14 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 12 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0 | 0.3 |
“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.
Police in Ripley identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 51% of Ripley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 13% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (57% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 12% of violent and 17% 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. 1,399 crimes.
249th of 290: Ripley among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Dronfield Derbyshire | 21,161 | 15.9 | 8.5 | 8.9 | B+ |
| 16 | Hadfield Derbyshire | 16,271 | 17.5 | 7.3 | 4.1 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 63 | Belper Derbyshire | 19,076 | 25.6 | 6.7 | 9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 103 | Glossop Derbyshire | 17,820 | 28.1 | 9.3 | 13.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 246 | Morpeth Northumberland | 14,419 | 45.3 | 18.4 | 16.8 | D |
| 247 | Goole East Riding of Yorkshire | 20,173 | 46.9 | 17.7 | 21.8 | D |
| 248 | Wath upon Dearne South Yorkshire | 16,962 | 45.6 | 19.6 | 9.1 | D |
| 249 | Ripley Derbyshire | 20,191 | 52.3 | 13.8 | 14.1 | D |
| 250 | Whitehaven Cumbria | 22,952 | 52 | 14.5 | 10 | D |
| 251 | Camborne Cornwall | 20,445 | 50 | 17.1 | 11.3 | D |
| 252 | Chertsey Surrey | 14,558 | 50.6 | 17.8 | 14.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 290 | Rhyl Clwyd | 26,982 | 89.1 | 22.9 | 29 | 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 Ripley, and others in Derbyshire.
Crime in Ripley 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 13 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Ripley’s neighbourhoods rank in England
14% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 17% 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.
Ripley’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.
Lowest recorded crime in Codnor and Waingroves, Ripley and Marehay and Ripley; highest in Ripley
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Codnor and Waingroves | 4,941 | 28.9 | 8.2 | |
| Ripley and Marehay | 5,543 | 46.4 | 9 | |
| Ripley | 9,192 | 70.5 | 20.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 1,043 | 26% drugs, public order & other |
| Car parks | 176 | 48% violent |
| Shopping areas | 139 | 32% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 47 | 57% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 36 | 61% anti-social behaviour |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Ripley records 1.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Ripley. 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 Ripley. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Ripley’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
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 +1% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -9% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -7% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -39% (towns its size -4%).
No one died in a collision on Ripley’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 127 collisions with injuries inside Ripley in five years. 32 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 5 on a bicycle.
That is about what 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 Ripley’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ripley’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Ripley had 31.7 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 16% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Ripley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Ripley
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ripley | 20,191 | 52.3 | 13.8 | D |
| Somercotes and Swanwick | 15,105 | 41.4 | 12.8 | C− |
| Heage | 2,584 | 18.3 | 4.9 | A− |
| Ironville | 1,824 | 51.4 | 16.8 | D |
| Denby Bottles | 1,756 | 23 | 4.4 | B |
| Jacksdale and Westwood | 2,758 | 19.7 | 8.6 | B |
| Ambergate | 1,566 | 21.5 | 6.4 | B |
| Heanor | 24,264 | 45.3 | 16 | D |
Ripley records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Ironville records more. Somercotes and Swanwick, 2.1 miles away, records 41.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Ripley’s 52.3.
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 Ripley 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 Ripley
Is Ripley safe?
Police recorded 52.3 violent and sexual offences and 13.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Ripley’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 9% of UK towns. Among 290 UK towns of 14,000 to 27,000 people, Ripley is 249th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Ripley?
By council ward, Codnor and Waingroves, Ripley and Marehay and Ripley record the least violent and household crime per resident: 28.9, 46.4 and 70.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 70.5 in Ripley.
Is crime going up in Ripley?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 9%, shoplifting and theft fell 7% and anti-social behaviour fell 39%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Ripley?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,009 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (214) and criminal damage & arson (162), with 264 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Ripley compare with Heanor?
Heanor records 45.3 violent and sexual offences and 16 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Ripley’s 52.3 and 13.8, 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.