Photo: John Baker · CC BY-SA 2.0Dover has more crime per resident than 98% of UK towns
On crimes police recorded inside Dover’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it grades D− for safety: #85 of 87 in Kent. Shoplifting stands out: 17.5 per 1,000 residents in the town, against 6.1 in a typical town its size, with 636 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Violent crime was down 10% in a year. Typical years here bring 65.9 violent and sexual offences plus 21.9 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Dover
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 10% less violent crime per resident in Dover 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 ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
56% of Dover’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 10% 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’s behind Dover’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 9,538 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Dover against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
56% of Dover residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
10% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 56% 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.
Dover’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, Dover runs highest on shoplifting (17.5 per 1,000 against 6.1), drugs (5.3 per 1,000 against 1.9) and possession of weapons (1.9 per 1,000 against 0.7).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 2,045 | 56.3 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,042 | 28.7 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 636 | 17.5 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 507 | 13.9 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 282 | 7.8 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 194 | 5.3 | 1.9 |
| Public order | not graded | 190 | 5.2 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 180 | 5 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 154 | 4.2 | 1.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 90 | 2.5 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 68 | 1.9 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 49 | 1.3 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 21 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 18 | 0.5 | 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 Dover compares with UK towns of 25,000 to 49,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | Sevenoaks Kent | 26,474 | 19.1 | 14.8 | 17.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 46 | Larkfield Kent | 26,147 | 25.2 | 13.9 | 9.5 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 54 | Whitstable Kent | 32,185 | 27.1 | 13.3 | 19.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 65 | Tonbridge Kent | 36,136 | 30.1 | 13.8 | 17.4 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 175 | Ramsgate Kent | 42,031 | 61.3 | 20.6 | 22.8 | D− |
| 176 | Accrington Lancashire | 34,897 | 58.5 | 24.8 | 22.3 | D− |
| 177 | Wrexham Clwyd | 44,781 | 62.3 | 23.3 | 33.7 | D− |
| 178 | Dover Kent | 36,349 | 65.9 | 21.9 | 24.8 | D− |
| 179 | Cleethorpes Lincolnshire | 29,660 | 62.5 | 25.5 | 26.6 | D− |
| 180 | Bilston West Midlands | 34,631 | 58.9 | 29.4 | 26.7 | D− |
| 181 | Castleford West Yorkshire | 45,363 | 61.7 | 27.1 | 30.3 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 186 | 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 Dover, and others in Kent.
Police in Dover identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 56% of Dover’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (65% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% 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. 3,408 crimes.
Crime in Dover 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 21 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 26 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Dover 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 -1% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +8% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +10% (towns its size -4%).
Lowest recorded crime in Dover Downs & River, Maxton & Elms Vale and Buckland; highest in Town & Castle
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover Downs & River | 5,575 | 16.9 | 6.4 | |
| Maxton & Elms Vale | 4,004 | 27.3 | 13.5 | |
| Buckland | 6,963 | 43.3 | 14.1 | |
| Tower Hamlets | 4,532 | 80.1 | 23.4 | |
| St Radigunds | 6,997 | 80.9 | 25.8 | |
| Town & Castle | 8,278 | 114.8 | 37.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 647 | 32% violent |
| Supermarkets | 630 | 65% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 488 | 82% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 175 | 41% violent |
| Petrol stations | 166 | 50% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 125 | 31% violent |
| Ferry terminals | 80 | 41% homes & vehicles |
| Hospitals | 46 | 76% violent |
| College and university buildings | 33 | 39% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Town & Castle records 2.2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Dover. 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 Dover. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Dover’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Two people died in collisions on Dover’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 284 collisions with injuries inside Dover in five years, in which two people died (1 was a pedestrian). 73 people were killed or seriously injured: 26 on foot and 8 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 Dover’s size would see about 2 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Dover’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Dover had 40.2 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). 36% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Dover’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Dover
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover | 36,349 | 65.9 | 21.9 | D− |
| Guston | 1,684 | 7.5 | 4.4 | A+ |
| Whitfield | 6,509 | 33.2 | 14.7 | C− |
| St Margaret's at Cliffe | 2,399 | 21.5 | 8.8 | B |
| Capel-le-Ferne | 1,962 | 13.4 | 7.7 | A− |
| Sibertswold | 1,619 | 20.8 | 7.7 | B |
| Eythorne | 1,487 | 22.2 | 8.1 | B |
| Kingsdown | 1,687 | 18.2 | 5.1 | B+ |
Dover records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Guston, 1.3 miles away, records 7.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Dover’s 65.9.
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 Dover 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 Dover
Is Dover safe?
Police recorded 65.9 violent and sexual offences and 21.9 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Dover’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 2% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Dover has less crime per resident than 4%.
What are the safest areas of Dover?
By council ward, Dover Downs & River, Maxton & Elms Vale and Buckland record the least violent and household crime per resident: 16.9, 27.3 and 43.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 114.8 in Town & Castle.
Is crime going up in Dover?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 10%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 8% and anti-social behaviour rose 10%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Dover?
Violence & sexual offences: 2,045 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (636) and criminal damage & arson (507), with 1,042 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Dover compare with Folkestone?
Folkestone records 49.7 violent and sexual offences and 17.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Dover’s 65.9 and 21.9, 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.