Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0Gillingham has more crime per resident than 88% of UK towns
Recorded violence fell 11% in a year. Even so, violent crime here is higher than in 87% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 85%. Scored on crimes police recorded inside Gillingham’s built-up area across September 2023 to August 2026, the town lands on D for safety: #69 of 87 in Kent. Annual rates stand at 42.7 violent and sexual offences and 16.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Gillingham
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% less violent crime per resident in Gillingham than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a city its size
Of 63 UK towns and cities of 76,000 to 146,000 people, Gillingham has the 26th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Nuneaton, Exeter and Blackburn, higher than High Wycombe, Bath and Burton upon Trent. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
33% of Gillingham’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 19% 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.
The grade: D for Gillingham
A firm grade. Built on 19,341 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Gillingham against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in Gillingham identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 53% of Gillingham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 12% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 9% of violent and 8% 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. 7,012 crimes.
33% of Gillingham residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
19% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 33% 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.
Gillingham’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.
Crime in Gillingham 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 16 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 15 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 Gillingham has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent -11% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -5% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -6% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +25% (towns its size -2%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Gillingham runs highest on other crime (2.9 per 1,000 against 2.1) and criminal damage & arson (9.2 per 1,000 against 7.5). Burglary and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 3,939 | 36.3 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 2,123 | 19.6 | 17.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 997 | 9.2 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 769 | 7.1 | 6.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 711 | 6.6 | 10.3 |
| Public order | not graded | 541 | 5 | 7.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 478 | 4.4 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 383 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 314 | 2.9 | 2.1 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 237 | 2.2 | 3.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 115 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 109 | 1 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 101 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 51 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Lowest recorded crime in Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch, Hempstead and Wigmore and Rainham Central; highest in Gillingham South
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch | 608 | 15.4 | 4.4 | |
| Hempstead and Wigmore | 8,094 | 15.6 | 7.8 | |
| Rainham Central | 12,391 | 21.3 | 7.2 | |
| Rainham South | 13,269 | 18.4 | 11.4 | |
| Rainham North | 8,490 | 35.3 | 11.7 | |
| Twydall | 13,036 | 35.5 | 14.8 | |
| Watling | 8,823 | 39.4 | 16.2 | |
| River | 7,401 | 46.7 | 18.1 | |
| Gillingham North | 19,185 | 64.6 | 25.8 | |
| Gillingham South | 17,188 | 75.2 | 25.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 1,745 | 48% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 1,425 | 33% violent |
| Shopping areas | 1,346 | 56% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 690 | 52% violent |
| Petrol stations | 451 | 36% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 339 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 278 | 38% violent |
| Nightclubs | 205 | 49% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 193 | 47% violent |
| College and university buildings | 142 | 50% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Gillingham South records 2.1× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Gillingham. 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 Gillingham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Gillingham’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Gillingham is 26th of 63 UK towns of 76,000 to 146,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poole Dorset | 141,009 | 26.2 | 14.4 | 12.5 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Ashford Kent | 82,143 | 40.4 | 14.6 | 20.2 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | High Wycombe Buckinghamshire | 83,541 | 40.6 | 17.2 | 22.5 | D |
| 24 | Bath Somerset | 94,080 | 41.6 | 16.9 | 28.3 | D |
| 25 | Burton upon Trent Staffordshire | 76,264 | 45.2 | 13.4 | 14.6 | D |
| 26 | Gillingham Kent | 108,485 | 42.7 | 16.7 | 14.9 | D |
| 27 | Guildford Surrey | 77,870 | 44.3 | 15.2 | 23.7 | D |
| 28 | Derry City Derry City and Strabane | 85,279 | 43.4 | 16.1 | 12.9 | D |
| 29 | Chelmsford Essex | 110,612 | 44.5 | 15.2 | 21 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 34 | Maidstone Kent | 109,503 | 46.4 | 17 | 20.1 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Chatham Kent | 76,956 | 54 | 20.6 | 20.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 63 | Doncaster South Yorkshire | 87,440 | 72.6 | 38.2 | 43.3 | 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 Gillingham, and others in Kent.
Seven people died in collisions on Gillingham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 758 collisions with injuries inside Gillingham in five years, in which seven people died (5 were pedestrians). 174 people were killed or seriously injured: 75 on foot and 11 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Gillingham’s size would see about 6 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Gillingham’s own rate (1.3) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Gillingham had 32.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 43% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 Gillingham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Gillingham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gillingham | 108,485 | 42.7 | 16.7 | D |
| Chatham | 76,956 | 54 | 20.6 | D |
| Upchurch | 1,727 | 17.8 | 5 | A− |
| Rochester | 67,279 | 44.7 | 16.8 | D |
| Hoo St Werburgh | 8,758 | 37.4 | 10.9 | C− |
| Chattenden | 2,417 | 40.6 | 19.3 | D |
| Lower Halstow | 1,210 | 10.5 | 7.2 | A |
| Newington | 2,691 | 40.4 | 14.9 | C− |
Gillingham records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Upchurch, 3.1 miles away, records 17.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Gillingham’s 42.7.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 690 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Gillingham’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Gillingham 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 Gillingham
Is Gillingham safe?
Police recorded 42.7 violent and sexual offences and 16.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Gillingham’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 12% of UK towns. Among 63 UK towns of 76,000 to 146,000 people, Gillingham is 26th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Gillingham?
By council ward, Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch, Hempstead and Wigmore and Rainham Central record the least violent and household crime per resident: 15.4, 15.6 and 21.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 75.2 in Gillingham South.
Is crime going up in Gillingham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 6% and anti-social behaviour rose 25%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Gillingham city centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 205 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 49% of them violent, and Gillingham South ward records 75.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in April.
What is the most common crime in Gillingham?
Violence & sexual offences: 3,939 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (997) and other theft (769), with 2,123 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.