Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Risca records more crime than nine in ten UK towns
Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. The yearly rates were 44.2 violent and sexual offences and 18.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. The Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crimes police recorded inside Risca’s built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026: #20 of 38 in Gwent. Anti-social behaviour stands out: 25.7 per 1,000 residents in the town, against 12.4 in a typical town its size, with 390 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 Risca
More crime than many places its size
Of 341 UK towns of 11,000 to 21,000 people, Risca has the 292nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Goole, Shirebrook and Wath upon Dearne, higher than Sandown, Minehead and Selby. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Risca: D for safety, and why
A firm grade. Built on 2,857 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Risca 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, Risca runs highest on anti-social behaviour (25.7 per 1,000 against 12.4), public order (10.8 per 1,000 against 5.4) and burglary (3.7 per 1,000 against 2.4). Shoplifting sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 626 | 41.2 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 390 | 25.7 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 164 | 10.8 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 142 | 9.3 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 71 | 4.7 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 63 | 4.1 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 56 | 3.7 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 38 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 34 | 2.2 | 1.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 25 | 1.6 | 6.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 16 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 11 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 5 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 3 | 0.2 | 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.
Of 341 towns its size, Risca is 292nd from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 216 | Chepstow Gwent | 11,939 | 34.2 | 14.4 | 20 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 286 | Ystrad Mynach Gwent | 11,856 | 44.1 | 18.1 | 6.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 289 | Sandown Isle of Wight | 11,652 | 47.7 | 14.8 | 22.9 | D |
| 290 | Minehead Somerset | 11,752 | 50.1 | 12.8 | 22.7 | D |
| 291 | Selby North Yorkshire | 19,480 | 48.2 | 14.7 | 21.6 | D |
| 292 | Risca Gwent | 15,194 | 44.2 | 18.7 | 8.7 | D |
| 293 | Elland West Yorkshire | 15,788 | 45 | 18 | 15.8 | D |
| 294 | Morpeth Northumberland | 14,419 | 45.3 | 18.4 | 16.8 | D |
| 295 | Thorne South Yorkshire | 12,303 | 44.3 | 19.5 | 13.6 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 303 | Abergavenny Gwent | 13,689 | 47.5 | 20.8 | 21.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 323 | Blackwood Gwent | 12,621 | 55.5 | 24.5 | 17.2 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 341 | 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 Risca, and others in Gwent.
Crime in Risca 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 17 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 7 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How Risca’s neighbourhoods rank in Wales
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Wales’s neighbourhoods, and 21% in the highest-crime 20%. The community safety domain scores recorded crime, anti-social behaviour and fire incidents where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Risca’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025 (community safety domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Wales’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Police in Risca identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 63% of Risca’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 16% 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 3% 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. 1,024 crimes.
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 +5% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -27% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +4% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in Ynysddu, Risca East and Crosskeys
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ynysddu | 1,081 | 35.5 | 18.5 | |
| Risca East | 6,140 | 44.1 | 16.2 | |
| Crosskeys | 2,887 | 41.5 | 19.9 | |
| Risca West | 5,086 | 47.4 | 20.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 412 | 41% violent |
| Supermarkets | 266 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 90 | 38% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 63 | 46% anti-social behaviour |
| College and university buildings | 51 | 57% violent |
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 Risca. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Risca’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
One person died in collisions on Risca’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 55 collisions with injuries inside Risca in five years, in which one person died (1 was a pedestrian). 24 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 on foot and 1 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 Risca’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Risca’s own rate (1.3) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Risca had 31.9 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 Risca’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Risca
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risca | 15,194 | 44.2 | 18.7 | D |
| Machen | 1,985 | 20 | 9.1 | B |
| Rogerstone | 7,546 | 17.5 | 10.1 | B |
| Abercarn | 5,123 | 35.5 | 16.7 | C− |
| Trethomas | 1,713 | 58 | 19.5 | D− |
| Cwmfelinfach | 1,353 | 30.8 | 16 | C |
| Cwmbrân | 47,075 | 50.5 | 19.9 | D |
| Bedwas | 6,463 | 39.4 | 14.8 | C− |
Risca records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Trethomas and Cwmbrân record more. Machen, 1.8 miles away, records 20 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Risca’s 44.2.
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 Risca 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 Risca
Is Risca safe?
Police recorded 44.2 violent and sexual offences and 18.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Risca’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 10% of UK towns. Among 341 UK towns of 11,000 to 21,000 people, Risca is 292nd from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Risca?
By council ward, Ynysddu, Risca East and Crosskeys record the least violent and household crime per resident: 35.5, 44.1 and 41.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 47.4 in Risca West.
Is crime going up in Risca?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 5%, shoplifting and theft fell 27% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Risca?
Violence & sexual offences: 626 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (164) and criminal damage & arson (142), with 390 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Risca compare with Newport?
Newport records 55.8 violent and sexual offences and 25.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Risca’s 44.2 and 18.7, 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 · Welsh Government Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025, community safety domain by LSOA · 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.