Photo: Sunil060902 · CC BY-SA 3.0Burglary, vehicle crime and damage per resident is higher in South Ockendon than in 85% of UK towns
Graded on crimes police recorded inside South Ockendon’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it scores C− for safety: #59 of 81 in Essex. Of all the kinds of crime, vehicle crime is where South Ockendon departs most from towns its size: 5.9 per 1,000 against 2.8. Violent crime was up 10% in a year. Per 1,000 residents a year, 36.8 violent and sexual offences and 16.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in South Ockendon
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 10% more violent crime per resident in South Ockendon than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 246 UK towns of 16,000 to 30,000 people, South Ockendon has the 166th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Newton-le-Willows, Herne Bay and Litherland, higher than Frome, Lewes and Rothwell. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
37% of South Ockendon’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 6% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind South Ockendon’s C−
A firm grade. Built on 3,580 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks South Ockendon against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
37% of South Ockendon residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
6% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 37% 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.
South Ockendon’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, South Ockendon runs highest on vehicle crime (5.9 per 1,000 against 2.8), robbery (1 per 1,000 against 0.5) and drugs (3.3 per 1,000 against 1.9). Other crime and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 821 | 36.6 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 244 | 10.9 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 152 | 6.8 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 138 | 6.1 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 132 | 5.9 | 2.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 104 | 4.6 | 4.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 75 | 3.3 | 6.1 |
| Drugs | not graded | 74 | 3.3 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 53 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 34 | 1.5 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 23 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 21 | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 15 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 9 | 0.4 | 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.
How crime in South Ockendon has moved
“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 +10% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -4% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +0% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +61% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in South Ockendon 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 15 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 9 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
South Ockendon places 166th of 246 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 10 | South Woodham Ferrers Essex | 16,029 | 17.9 | 6.3 | 9.3 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 22 | Saffron Walden Essex | 16,609 | 19.1 | 9 | 7.7 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Wickford Essex | 27,533 | 19.8 | 13 | 8.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 68 | Stanford-le-Hope Essex | 29,527 | 23.7 | 13.3 | 11.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 163 | Frome Somerset | 27,904 | 39.8 | 12.8 | 19.3 | C− |
| 164 | Lewes East Sussex | 16,066 | 37.5 | 15.6 | 19.4 | C− |
| 165 | Rothwell West Yorkshire | 20,964 | 35.4 | 17.9 | 10.2 | C− |
| 166 | South Ockendon Essex | 22,441 | 36.8 | 16.5 | 10.1 | C− |
| 167 | Gorleston-on-Sea Norfolk | 24,474 | 39.2 | 14.2 | 12.5 | C− |
| 168 | Prestatyn Clwyd | 16,678 | 41.3 | 12.2 | 18.7 | C− |
| 169 | Faversham Kent | 20,941 | 36 | 17.6 | 17.6 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 246 | 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 South Ockendon, and others in Essex.
Police in South Ockendon identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 75% of South Ockendon’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 20% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (59% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 4% of violent and 5% 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. 1,238 crimes.
Where in South Ockendon police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 268 | 35% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 64 | 56% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 55 | 27% homes & vehicles |
| Police stations | 39 | 38% 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 South Ockendon. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Two people died in collisions on South Ockendon’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 82 collisions with injuries inside South Ockendon in five years, in which two people died. 23 people were killed or seriously injured: 7 on foot and 4 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 South Ockendon’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so South Ockendon’s own rate (1.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, South Ockendon had 20.5 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 South Ockendon’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around South Ockendon
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Ockendon | 22,441 | 36.8 | 16.5 | C− |
| Aveley | 9,364 | 34.6 | 20.4 | C− |
| Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock | 23,589 | 39.9 | 33.1 | D |
| Grays | 44,340 | 37.3 | 19.3 | C− |
| Purfleet-on-Thames | 5,881 | 36.2 | 31.2 | D |
| Orsett | 1,428 | 14.7 | 28.7 | C |
| Chadwell St Mary | 10,680 | 39.5 | 24.1 | D |
| Swanscombe | 15,462 | 36.8 | 21.3 | D |
South Ockendon records more graded crime per resident than 1 of its 7 neighbours. Orsett, 3.5 miles away, records 14.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against South Ockendon’s 36.8.
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 South Ockendon 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 South Ockendon
Is South Ockendon safe?
Police recorded 36.8 violent and sexual offences and 16.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside South Ockendon’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 18% of UK towns. Among 246 UK towns of 16,000 to 30,000 people, South Ockendon is 166th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in South Ockendon?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 10%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 61%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in South Ockendon?
Violence & sexual offences: 821 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (152) and public order (138), with 244 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does South Ockendon compare with Havering?
Havering records 29 violent and sexual offences and 18.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against South Ockendon’s 36.8 and 16.5, 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.