Photo: David Martin · CC BY-SA 2.0Compared with UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Bridport has less crime per resident than 67% of them
Violent crime barely moved in a year. Anti-social behaviour: police recorded 263 in Bridport in the 12 months to August 2026, 21.4 per 1,000 residents against 12.4 in a typical town its size. The yearly rates were 28.0 violent and sexual offences and 9.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Bridport
Less crime than many places its size
Of 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Bridport has the 150th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Shiney Row and Penshaw, Cookstown and Thornbury, higher than Westbury, Whitwick and Darton. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Bridport’s Safety Grade is C+
A firm grade. Built on 1,396 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Bridport 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 Bridport’s neighbourhoods rank in England
31% 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.
Bridport’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, Bridport runs highest on anti-social behaviour (21.4 per 1,000 against 12.4). Drugs and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 336 | 27.3 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 263 | 21.4 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 65 | 5.3 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 61 | 5 | 6.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 52 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 50 | 4.1 | 5.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 28 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 17 | 1.4 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 14 | 1.1 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 11 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 8 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Other crime | not graded | 4 | 0.3 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 4 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 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.
Bridport places 150th of 376 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Verwood Dorset | 13,706 | 12.5 | 5.9 | 6 | A |
| 6 | Corfe Mullen Dorset | 10,036 | 11.9 | 7 | 4.4 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Ferndown Dorset | 13,267 | 13.8 | 7.2 | 6.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 35 | West Moors Dorset | 10,432 | 16.9 | 9 | 5.9 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 147 | Westbury Wiltshire | 16,394 | 26.2 | 11 | 6.3 | C+ |
| 148 | Whitwick Leicestershire | 10,455 | 26 | 11.6 | 7.7 | C+ |
| 149 | Darton South Yorkshire | 15,016 | 25.6 | 12.2 | 5.3 | C+ |
| 150 | Bridport Dorset | 12,294 | 28 | 9.9 | 10.4 | C+ |
| 151 | Dungannon Mid Ulster | 16,282 | 27.8 | 10.1 | 7.2 | C+ |
| 152 | Buckley Clwyd | 13,562 | 29.7 | 8.2 | 9.3 | C+ |
| 153 | Blandford Forum Dorset | 11,805 | 26 | 11.9 | 10.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 376 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Bridport, and others in Dorset.
Crime in Bridport 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 9 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.
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 -3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -1% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +10% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +23% (towns its size -4%).
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 67% of Bridport’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” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% 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. 463 crimes.
Where in Bridport police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 252 | 45% anti-social behaviour |
| Supermarkets | 159 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 106 | 31% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 43 | 42% violent |
| Shopping areas | 22 | 41% 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 Bridport. 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 Bridport’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 70 collisions with injuries inside Bridport in five years. 24 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 on foot and 6 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 Bridport’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bridport’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Bridport had 38.9 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).
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 Bridport’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Bridport
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridport | 12,294 | 28 | 9.9 | C+ |
| Bradpole | 1,257 | 15.4 | 5 | A− |
| Beaminster | 2,995 | 15.7 | 6 | A− |
| Charmouth | 1,337 | 15.5 | 6.5 | A− |
| Lyme Regis | 3,741 | 23.3 | 10 | B− |
| Uplyme | 1,053 | 12.1 | 4.1 | A |
| Maiden Newton | 1,128 | 12.1 | 8.3 | A− |
| Misterton | 1,037 | 21 | 12.3 | B− |
Bridport records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Bradpole, 1.3 miles away, records 15.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Bridport’s 28.
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 Bridport 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 Bridport
Is Bridport safe?
Police recorded 28 violent and sexual offences and 9.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Bridport’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 39% of UK towns. Among 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Bridport is 150th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Bridport?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 10% and anti-social behaviour rose 23%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Bridport?
Violence & sexual offences: 336 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (65) and shoplifting (61), with 263 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Bridport compare with Dorchester?
Dorchester records 27.4 violent and sexual offences and 12.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Bridport’s 28 and 9.9, 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.