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Whiteley Shopping Centre (2)Photo: Barry Shimmon · CC BY-SA 2.0
C+Safety Grade
Safety in Whiteley · police.uk, 2023–2026

Whiteley records bicycle theft at 9.7 times the rate of a typical town its size

Its Safety Grade, C+ (#52 of 76 in Hampshire), rests on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: more crime per resident than 63% of UK towns. The yearly rates were 29.3 violent and sexual offences and 10.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. Recorded violence held steady in a year.

Violent crime
29.3
per 1,000 residents a year · graded
Homes & vehicles
10
burglary, vehicle crime, damage · graded
Shoplifting & theft
13.3
per 1,000 a year · not graded
Anti-social behaviour
11.9
reports per 1,000 a year · not graded

Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.

What stands out · In brief

What stands out about safety in Whiteley

About the middle for a town its size

Of 411 UK towns of 7,000 to 13,000 people, Whiteley has the 201st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Raunds, Ecclesfield and Grenoside and Ryton, higher than Bridgnorth, Ashbourne and North Walsham. Towns its size ↓

Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally

The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 19% of Whiteley’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓

Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Whiteley’s grade

Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 36% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people: about the middle for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
Violent and sexual offences (29.3 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 33% of UK towns
Homes and vehicles (10 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 47% of UK towns
CC+

A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,102 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Whiteley against every UK town of 1,000 or more.

Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.

By type

What police recorded in the last 12 months

Violence & sexual offences30.9
Anti-social behaviour9.9
Shoplifting9
Criminal damage & arson7.2
Public order6.6
Other theft6.2
Vehicle crime3
Other crime2.1
Burglary1.7
Bicycle theft1.1
Possession of weapons0.5
Robbery0.5
Drugs0.4
Theft from the person0.2
Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Not gradedTypical town its size

Against the typical town its size, Whiteley runs highest on bicycle theft (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.1), shoplifting (9 per 1,000 against 1.8) and other theft (6.2 per 1,000 against 3.2).

Show as a table
CategoryIn the gradeReportsPer 1,000Typical
Violence & sexual offencesViolent28930.922.4
Anti-social behaviournot graded939.98.8
Shopliftingnot graded8491.8
Criminal damage & arsonHome & vehicle677.24.5
Public ordernot graded626.63.6
Other theftnot graded586.23.2
Vehicle crimeHome & vehicle2832
Other crimenot graded202.11.5
BurglaryHome & vehicle161.71.9
Bicycle theftnot graded101.10.1
Possession of weaponsViolent50.50.4
RobberyViolent50.50.2
Drugsnot graded40.41
Theft from the personnot graded20.20

“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.

Neighbourhoods · England-wide rank

1 in 5 Whiteley residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods

0%1
0%2
0%3
0%4
5%5
17%6
14%7
27%8
18%9
19%10
Higher crimeLower crime

64% 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.

Whiteley’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.

1,000 residents · one year

Crime in Whiteley per 1,000 residents

Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Shoplifting & theft (not graded)
299
violent and sexual offences, 12 months to August 2026
111
homes & vehicles
154
shoplifting & theft
60
of the three, per 1,000

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 16 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.

What happened next

Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns

Violent crime
Whiteley
All UK towns
Homes & vehicles
Whiteley
All UK towns
Went to courtSuspect identified, unable to prosecuteNo suspect identifiedCaution, local resolution, otherStill open

No suspect was identified for 68% of Whiteley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 13% 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 4% of violent and 4% 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. 305 crimes.

Trend · monthly

How crime in Whiteley 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 +1% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +23% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +79% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +21% (towns its size +0%).

Towns its size

Towns its size: Whiteley comes 201st of 411

#TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesShops & theftSafety
1Greasby Merseyside9,17511.33.72.5A
…
81Ashley Hampshire7,7302274.5B
…
101Hook Hampshire9,06220.89.77.2B
…
106Blackwater Hampshire7,17021.49.44.2B−
…
129Liphook Hampshire7,12823.19.78.5B−
…
198Bridgnorth Shropshire12,17226.412.78.7C+
199Ashbourne Derbyshire8,85430.88.37.7C+
200North Walsham Norfolk12,82931.288.1C+
201Whiteley Hampshire9,35029.31013.3C+
202Helston Cornwall11,36629.69.87.7C+
203Ross-on-Wye Herefordshire10,99328.41117.3C+
204West End Hampshire10,86524.4159.5C+
…
411City of London London7,820252.8111.5710D−

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 Whiteley, and others in Hampshire.

Where in Whiteley

Where in Whiteley police recorded crime

Public places police.uk named crimes and ASB, 3 years
At or nearReportsMostly
Shopping areas22952% shoplifting & theft
Supermarkets12372% shoplifting & theft
Car parks6745% shoplifting & theft
Hospitals4445% 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 Whiteley. We show only these, never streets or homes.

Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.

On the roads

No one died in a collision on Whiteley’s roads in 2021–2025

Police recorded 33 collisions with injuries inside Whiteley in five years. 7 people were killed or seriously injured: 0 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.

Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Whiteley is one of them.

Counting serious injuries too, a town of Whiteley’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; Whiteley had 7.

0
people killed, 2021–2025
7
killed or seriously injured
0
of them on foot
2
of them on a bicycle

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 Whiteley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Neighbours

Crime in the places around Whiteley

ABCD
TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesSafety
Whiteley9,35029.310C+
Locks Heath35,744237.7B−
Knowle1,48754.314.1D
Bursledon8,07233.814C−
Botley5,90038.913.5C−
Hedge End23,19522.18.2B
Wickham2,17039.914.1C−
Hamble-le-Rice4,61323.910.6B−

Whiteley records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Locks Heath, 1.6 miles away, records 23 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Whiteley’s 29.3.

Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.

How to read these numbers

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 Whiteley 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 Whiteley

Is Whiteley safe?

Police recorded 29.3 violent and sexual offences and 10 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Whiteley’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 37% of UK towns. Among 411 UK towns of 7,000 to 13,000 people, Whiteley is 201st from the least crime. 19% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.

Is crime going up in Whiteley?

In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 23%, shoplifting and theft rose 79% and anti-social behaviour rose 21%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.

What is the most common crime in Whiteley?

Violence & sexual offences: 289 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (84) and criminal damage & arson (67), with 93 reports of anti-social behaviour.

How does Whiteley compare with Southampton?

Southampton records 58.3 violent and sexual offences and 22.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Whiteley’s 29.3 and 10, 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.