Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0Shaftesbury records shoplifting at 4.5 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence fell 8% in a year. Police recorded 76 cases of shoplifting in Shaftesbury in the 12 months to August 2026, a rate of 8.3 per 1,000 against a typical 1.8. In sum, crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put Shaftesbury at C+ (#21 of 30 in Dorset): close to the middle of UK towns.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Shaftesbury
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 8% less violent crime per resident in Shaftesbury than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 35% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, Shaftesbury has the 231st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Pencoed, Great Dunmow and Penkridge, higher than Dalton-in-Furness, Desborough and Cotgrave. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C+ for Shaftesbury, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,007 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Shaftesbury 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, Shaftesbury runs highest on shoplifting (8.3 per 1,000 against 1.8), anti-social behaviour (19.2 per 1,000 against 8.8) and vehicle crime (3.6 per 1,000 against 2). Public order and other crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 199 | 21.7 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 176 | 19.2 | 8.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 76 | 8.3 | 1.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 51 | 5.6 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 43 | 4.7 | 3.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 33 | 3.6 | 2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 29 | 3.2 | 1.9 |
| Public order | not graded | 28 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| Other crime | not graded | 10 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 7 | 0.8 | 1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 3 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 3 | 0.3 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
“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.
How Shaftesbury’s neighbourhoods rank in England
34% 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.
Shaftesbury’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 crime in Shaftesbury has moved
“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 -8% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -35% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +60% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +8% (towns its size +0%).
For every 1,000 residents, about 22 violent and sexual offences in the 12 months to August 2026
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.
Of 487 towns its size, Shaftesbury is 231st from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | 6,763 | 9.6 | 5 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Corfe Mullen Dorset | 10,036 | 11.9 | 7 | 4.4 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | Ashley Heath Dorset | 7,151 | 10.9 | 10.4 | 4.9 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 78 | West Moors Dorset | 10,432 | 16.9 | 9 | 5.9 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 123 | Gillingham Dorset | 11,009 | 20 | 9.4 | 8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 228 | Dalton-in-Furness Cumbria | 7,551 | 27.2 | 9.3 | 5.3 | C+ |
| 229 | Desborough Northamptonshire | 11,899 | 25.6 | 11 | 8 | C+ |
| 230 | Cotgrave Nottinghamshire | 7,794 | 27.4 | 9.2 | 6 | C+ |
| 231 | Shaftesbury Dorset | 9,163 | 22.3 | 14.4 | 10.1 | C+ |
| 232 | Grove Oxfordshire | 7,942 | 29.6 | 7.1 | 7.6 | C+ |
| 233 | Shelf and Northowram West Yorkshire | 9,191 | 21.4 | 15.3 | 7.5 | C+ |
| 234 | Shifnal Shropshire | 8,973 | 27.9 | 9 | 9.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 487 | 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 Shaftesbury, and others in Dorset.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Shaftesbury’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (71% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% 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. 295 crimes.
Where in Shaftesbury police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 117 | 45% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 57 | 44% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 35 | 40% 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 Shaftesbury. 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 Shaftesbury’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 43 collisions with injuries inside Shaftesbury in five years. 15 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 on foot and 3 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Shaftesbury is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, Shaftesbury had 32.6 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).
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 Shaftesbury’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Shaftesbury
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaftesbury | 9,163 | 22.3 | 14.4 | C+ |
| Motcombe | 1,366 | 3.2 | 2.7 | A+ |
| Gillingham | 11,009 | 20 | 9.4 | B |
| Tisbury | 2,274 | 26.7 | 8.4 | C+ |
| Marnhull | 1,466 | 11.6 | 8.2 | A− |
| Mere | 2,808 | 18.2 | 11 | B |
| Child Okeford | 1,159 | 12.9 | 2.9 | A |
| Sturminster Newton | 3,565 | 29.8 | 9.6 | C+ |
Shaftesbury records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Sturminster Newton records more. Motcombe, 2.1 miles away, records 3.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Shaftesbury’s 22.3.
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 Shaftesbury 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 Shaftesbury
Is Shaftesbury safe?
Police recorded 22.3 violent and sexual offences and 14.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Shaftesbury’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 41% of UK towns. Among 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, Shaftesbury is 231st from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Shaftesbury?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 8%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 35%, shoplifting and theft rose 60% and anti-social behaviour rose 8%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Shaftesbury?
Violence & sexual offences: 199 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (76) and criminal damage & arson (51), with 176 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.