Bishop's palace at Halling · Photo: Marathon · CC BY-SA 2.0Halling stands out for shoplifting: 3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Halling grades B for safety overall (#15 of 87 in Kent): 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 Halling
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 22% less violent crime per resident in Halling than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 856 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000 people, Halling has the 455th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Kingsclere, Dunton Green and Lanchester, higher than Great Lumley, Ringmer and Lambourn. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Halling grades B for safety
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
A fairly firm grade. Built on 256 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Halling against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
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.
Against the typical town its size, Halling runs highest on shoplifting (5.5 per 1,000 against 1.8) and other theft (4.8 per 1,000 against 3.2). Violence & sexual offences sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 47 | 16.1 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 27 | 9.2 | 8.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 16 | 5.5 | 1.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 14 | 4.8 | 3.2 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 12 | 4.1 | 4.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 9 | 3.1 | 2 |
| Public order | not graded | 6 | 2.1 | 3.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 6 | 2.1 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 5 | 1.7 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 1 | 0.3 | 1.9 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 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.
Violent crime down 22% in a year, while towns its size held steady
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 -22% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -35% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +36% (towns its size +2%).
“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).
How Halling’s neighbourhoods rank in England
Halling’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.
45% 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.
For every 1,000 residents, about 16 violent and sexual offences in the 12 months to August 2026
And about 8 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 10 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
Halling is 455th of 856 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Halling, and others in Kent.
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richhill Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 2,738 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 3 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 30 | Ightham Kent | 2,037 | 6.1 | 7 | 2.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 95 | Cuxton Kent | 3,039 | 9.7 | 7.4 | 2.9 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 98 | Cliffe Woods Kent | 2,689 | 11.2 | 6 | 3 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 100 | Istead Rise Kent | 3,398 | 9.7 | 7.6 | 5.9 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 452 | Great Lumley County Durham | 3,627 | 21.1 | 8.6 | 3.3 | B |
| 453 | Ringmer East Sussex | 3,221 | 21.4 | 8.4 | 3.7 | B |
| 454 | Lambourn Berkshire | 3,141 | 22 | 7.9 | 3.8 | B |
| 455 | Halling Kent | 2,926 | 18.8 | 11.1 | 7.4 | B |
| 456 | Vigo Village Kent | 2,005 | 16.3 | 13.6 | 3.8 | B |
| 457 | Edenfield Lancashire | 2,048 | 18.7 | 11.2 | 2.9 | B |
| 458 | Tywardreath Cornwall | 2,589 | 18.8 | 11.2 | 8.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 856 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
No one died in a collision on Halling’s roads in 2021–2025
Collisions police recorded inside Halling’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Police recorded 4 collisions with injuries inside Halling in five years. 2 people were killed or seriously injured: 0 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Halling is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Halling’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 2 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Halling had 2.
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.
Crime in the places around Halling
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
Halling records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Cuxton, 1.4 miles away, records 9.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Halling’s 18.8.
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 Halling 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 Halling
Is Halling safe?
Police recorded 18.8 violent and sexual offences and 11.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Halling’s built-up area). That earns a B for safety: less crime per resident than 56% of UK towns. Among 856 UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000 people, Halling is 455th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Halling?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 22%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 35%, shoplifting and theft rose 36% and anti-social behaviour rose 145%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Halling?
Violence & sexual offences: 47 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (16) and other theft (14), with 27 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Halling compare with Gillingham?
Gillingham records 42.7 violent and sexual offences and 16.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Halling’s 18.8 and 11.1, 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.