Photo: David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Blackwater records about as much crime as the typical place among UK towns
Annual rates stand at 21.4 violent and sexual offences and 9.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents. Violence recorded locally dropped 14% in a year. Across all the graded crimes, Blackwater lands on B− (#34 of 76 in Hampshire): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 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 Blackwater
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 14% less violent crime per resident in Blackwater 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 48% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Blackwater has the 177th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Tetbury, Warlingham and Hawkinge, higher than Sawtry, Weaverham and Prestwood and Great Missenden. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Blackwater’s B−
A fairly firm grade. Built on 663 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Blackwater 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 Blackwater’s neighbourhoods rank in England
58% 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.
Blackwater’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 Blackwater 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 -14% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -48% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +86% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +24% (towns its size +0%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Blackwater runs highest on other crime (2.5 per 1,000 against 1.5) and shoplifting (2.5 per 1,000 against 1.8). Anti-social behaviour and public order sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 137 | 19.1 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 42 | 5.9 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 33 | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 21 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 18 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 18 | 2.5 | 1.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 17 | 2.4 | 3.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 8 | 1.1 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 4 | 0.6 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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.
Of 546 towns its size, Blackwater is 177th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merley Dorset | 5,489 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 3.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 4 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | 6,763 | 9.6 | 5 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Four Marks Hampshire | 5,613 | 13.8 | 5.5 | 5.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 34 | Odiham Hampshire | 5,091 | 13.8 | 6.7 | 5.7 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 41 | Denmead Hampshire | 6,509 | 16 | 5.3 | 2.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 174 | Sawtry Cambridgeshire | 5,870 | 24.1 | 6.7 | 3.6 | B− |
| 175 | Weaverham Cheshire | 6,266 | 25.1 | 5.8 | 4.3 | B− |
| 176 | Prestwood and Great Missenden Buckinghamshire | 7,600 | 19.6 | 11.2 | 7.7 | B− |
| 177 | Blackwater Hampshire | 7,170 | 21.4 | 9.4 | 4.2 | B− |
| 178 | Coningsby and Tattershall Lincolnshire | 5,511 | 25.5 | 5.4 | 7.6 | B− |
| 179 | Kilkeel Newry, Mourne and Down | 6,633 | 21.3 | 9.7 | 7.7 | B− |
| 180 | Groby Leicestershire | 6,559 | 18.9 | 12.2 | 3.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 546 | 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 Blackwater, and others in Hampshire.
Police in Blackwater identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 75% of Blackwater’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (58% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 0% 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. 222 crimes.
Crime in Blackwater 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 6 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 6 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
No one died in a collision on Blackwater’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 21 collisions with injuries inside Blackwater in five years. 3 people were killed or seriously injured: 0 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 Blackwater is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Blackwater’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 6 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Blackwater had 3.
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 Blackwater’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Blackwater
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackwater | 7,170 | 21.4 | 9.4 | B− |
| Hawley | 2,581 | 13.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| Sandhurst | 20,220 | 14.9 | 6.8 | A− |
| Yateley | 14,676 | 17 | 8.2 | B+ |
| Minley | 1,041 | 6.7 | 2.6 | A+ |
| Camberley | 36,787 | 27.7 | 10.8 | C+ |
| Crowthorne | 15,196 | 20.3 | 6.7 | B |
| Farnborough | 60,665 | 32 | 12.8 | C |
Blackwater records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Camberley and Farnborough record more. Hawley, 0.8 miles away, records 13.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Blackwater’s 21.4.
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
- 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 Blackwater 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 Blackwater
Is Blackwater safe?
Police recorded 21.4 violent and sexual offences and 9.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Blackwater’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 54% of UK towns. Among 546 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, Blackwater is 177th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Blackwater?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 14%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 48%, shoplifting and theft rose 86% and anti-social behaviour rose 24%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Blackwater?
Violence & sexual offences: 137 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (33) and other theft (21), with 42 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Blackwater compare with Bracknell?
Bracknell records 31.9 violent and sexual offences and 13.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Blackwater’s 21.4 and 9.4, 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.