Photo: Oast House Archive · CC BY-SA 2.0Swanage stands out for shoplifting: 2.2 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence rose 11% in a year. Swanage’s overall Safety Grade is B (#13 of 30 in Dorset): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Police recorded 37 cases of shoplifting locally in the 12 months to August 2026, a rate of 4.1 per 1,000 against a typical 1.8.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Swanage
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% more violent crime per resident in Swanage 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 22% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, Swanage has the 125th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Sawston, Peasedown St John and Rusthall and Langton Green, higher than East Boldon and West Boldon, Gillingham and Olney. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Swanage’s B for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 804 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Swanage 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 Swanage’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% 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.
Swanage’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, Swanage runs highest on shoplifting (4.1 per 1,000 against 1.8) and anti-social behaviour (11.7 per 1,000 against 8.8). Criminal damage & arson and public order sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 190 | 20.8 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 107 | 11.7 | 8.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 37 | 4.1 | 1.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 32 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 31 | 3.4 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 15 | 1.6 | 3.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 14 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 8 | 0.9 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 8 | 0.9 | 2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 7 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 4 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.2 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
“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.
Swanage is 125th of 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 122 | East Boldon and West Boldon Tyne and Wear | 6,795 | 16.9 | 12.4 | 13.2 | B |
| 123 | Gillingham Dorset | 11,009 | 20 | 9.4 | 8 | B |
| 124 | Olney Buckinghamshire | 6,600 | 21.9 | 7.5 | 8.2 | B |
| 125 | Swanage Dorset | 9,115 | 21.3 | 8.1 | 7.4 | B |
| 126 | Storrington West Sussex | 8,713 | 18.1 | 11.3 | 5.9 | B |
| 127 | Sherborne Dorset | 10,359 | 21.6 | 7.8 | 8.9 | B |
| 128 | Polegate East Sussex | 10,067 | 20.1 | 9.3 | 17.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 134 | Upton Dorset | 8,401 | 19.4 | 10.6 | 9.1 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 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 Swanage, and others in Dorset.
How crime in Swanage 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 +11% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -22% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +13% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +43% (towns its size +0%).
For every 1,000 residents, about 21 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 6 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 8 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 70% of Swanage’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” (64% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 10% of violent and 8% 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. 314 crimes.
Where in Swanage police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 68 | 78% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 38 | 42% anti-social behaviour |
| Nightclubs | 35 | 60% violent |
| Police stations | 21 | 38% anti-social behaviour |
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 Swanage. 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 Swanage’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 38 collisions with injuries inside Swanage in five years. 7 people were killed or seriously injured: 4 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Swanage is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Swanage’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 8 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Swanage had 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 Swanage’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Swanage
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swanage | 9,115 | 21.3 | 8.1 | B |
| Poole | 141,009 | 26.2 | 14.4 | C |
| Wareham | 5,876 | 19.6 | 11.7 | B− |
| Sandford | 2,004 | 11.3 | 5.5 | A |
| Upton | 8,401 | 19.4 | 10.6 | B |
| Bournemouth | 196,453 | 37.1 | 20.4 | D |
| Bearwood | 4,134 | 23.1 | 12.1 | C+ |
| Corfe Mullen | 10,036 | 11.9 | 7 | A |
Swanage records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Sandford, 8.7 miles away, records 11.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Swanage’s 21.3.
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 Swanage 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 Swanage
Is Swanage safe?
Police recorded 21.3 violent and sexual offences and 8.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Swanage’s built-up area). That earns a B for safety: less crime per resident than 57% of UK towns. Among 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, Swanage is 125th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Swanage?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 22%, shoplifting and theft rose 13% and anti-social behaviour rose 43%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Swanage?
Violence & sexual offences: 190 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (37) and other theft (32), with 107 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Swanage compare with Bournemouth?
Bournemouth records 37.1 violent and sexual offences and 20.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Swanage’s 21.3 and 8.1, 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.