Photo: Ian Greig · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Dorchester records more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than seven in ten UK towns
The local count comes to 27.4 violent and sexual offences and 12.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people each year. The Safety Grade comes out at C+, drawn from crimes police recorded inside Dorchester’s built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026: #24 of 30 in Dorset. At 19.4 per 1,000 residents, anti-social behaviour in the town runs well past the 12.4 of a typical town its size (415 recorded 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 Dorchester
Less crime than many places its size
Of 268 UK towns of 15,000 to 29,000 people, Dorchester has the 102nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Warminster, Quedgeley and Hardwicke and Brixham, higher than Droitwich Spa, Horley and Caterham. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 13% of Dorchester’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Dorchester: C+ for safety, and why
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,531 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Dorchester against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
1 in 8 Dorchester residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
46% 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.
Dorchester’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.
Police in Dorchester identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 60% of Dorchester’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” (60% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% of violent and 11% 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. 917 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Dorchester runs highest on anti-social behaviour (19.4 per 1,000 against 12.4) and shoplifting (9.6 per 1,000 against 6.1). Drugs and public order sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 544 | 25.5 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 415 | 19.4 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 205 | 9.6 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 115 | 5.4 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 92 | 4.3 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 78 | 3.7 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 58 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 36 | 1.7 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 29 | 1.4 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 12 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 11 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 8 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 7 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 3 | 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.
Towns its size: Dorchester comes 102nd of 268
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Streetly West Midlands | 16,790 | 11.2 | 9 | 5.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Wimborne Minster Dorset | 16,629 | 22.8 | 9.5 | 9.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 99 | Droitwich Spa Worcestershire | 26,413 | 28.3 | 11.1 | 17.1 | C+ |
| 100 | Horley Surrey | 27,067 | 28.5 | 10.8 | 9.1 | C+ |
| 101 | Caterham Surrey | 22,757 | 27.6 | 12 | 11 | C+ |
| 102 | Dorchester Dorset | 21,358 | 27.4 | 12.3 | 15.3 | C+ |
| 103 | Mansfield Woodhouse Nottinghamshire | 19,521 | 29.3 | 10.4 | 10.6 | C+ |
| 104 | Chesham Buckinghamshire | 23,691 | 26.2 | 13.5 | 11.2 | C+ |
| 105 | Stowmarket Suffolk | 21,537 | 31.7 | 8.1 | 10.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 268 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 Dorchester, and others in Dorset.
Crime in Dorchester 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 10 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 14 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Lowest recorded crime in Dorchester East, Dorchester West and Dorchester Poundbury
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorchester East | 8,217 | 21.6 | 10.9 | |
| Dorchester West | 9,069 | 29.4 | 12.1 | |
| Dorchester Poundbury | 4,072 | 33.7 | 15.5 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 259 | 56% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 234 | 32% anti-social behaviour |
| Hospitals | 130 | 58% violent |
| Shopping areas | 73 | 37% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 56 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 Dorchester. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Dorchester’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 -2% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -22% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -10% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +10% (towns its size -4%).
One person died in collisions on Dorchester’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 116 collisions with injuries inside Dorchester in five years, in which one person died (1 was a cyclist). 26 people were killed or seriously injured: 6 on foot and 9 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 Dorchester’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Dorchester’s own rate (0.9) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Dorchester had 24.0 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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 Dorchester’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Dorchester
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorchester | 21,358 | 27.4 | 12.3 | C+ |
| Charminster | 1,732 | 15 | 4.8 | A− |
| Charlton Down | 1,487 | 8.7 | 4.7 | A+ |
| Puddletown | 1,193 | 8.7 | 2.8 | A+ |
| Crossways | 2,494 | 15.2 | 7.5 | A− |
| Weymouth | 55,540 | 37.7 | 11.7 | C− |
| Chickerell | 3,973 | 18.8 | 6.3 | B+ |
| Maiden Newton | 1,128 | 12.1 | 8.3 | A− |
Dorchester records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Weymouth records more. Charminster, 1.8 miles away, records 15 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Dorchester’s 27.4.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 130 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Dorchester’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Dorchester 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 Dorchester
Is Dorchester safe?
Police recorded 27.4 violent and sexual offences and 12.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Dorchester’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 36% of UK towns. Among 268 UK towns of 15,000 to 29,000 people, Dorchester is 102nd from the least crime. 13% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Dorchester?
By council ward, Dorchester East, Dorchester West and Dorchester Poundbury record the least violent and household crime per resident: 21.6, 29.4 and 33.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 33.7 in Dorchester Poundbury.
Is crime going up in Dorchester?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 22%, shoplifting and theft fell 10% and anti-social behaviour rose 10%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Dorchester?
Violence & sexual offences: 544 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (205) and criminal damage & arson (115), with 415 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Dorchester compare with Weymouth?
Weymouth records 37.7 violent and sexual offences and 11.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Dorchester’s 27.4 and 12.3, 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.