Photo: David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0Hawkhurst stands out for shoplifting: 4.9 times the rate of a typical town its size
Recorded violence fell 16% in a year. It has more violent crime than 68% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 81%. Hawkhurst’s overall Safety Grade is C (#46 of 87 in Kent): more crime per resident than 73% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Its police logs show 30.0 violent and sexual offences and 15.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Hawkhurst
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 16% less violent crime per resident in Hawkhurst 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 8% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 539 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people, Hawkhurst has the 432nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Bilsthorpe, Talke and Talke Pits and Swillington, higher than Thurston, Coxhoe and Theale. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: C for Hawkhurst
A fairly firm grade. Built on 500 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Hawkhurst against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Hawkhurst runs highest on shoplifting (9 per 1,000 against 1.8), criminal damage & arson (7.9 per 1,000 against 4.5) and anti-social behaviour (12.8 per 1,000 against 8.8).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 90 | 24.4 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 47 | 12.8 | 8.8 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 33 | 9 | 1.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 29 | 7.9 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 15 | 4.1 | 3.2 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 10 | 2.7 | 2 |
| Public order | not graded | 7 | 1.9 | 3.6 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 5 | 1.4 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 3 | 0.8 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 2 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.5 | 0 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
“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.
How Hawkhurst’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% 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.
Hawkhurst’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 Hawkhurst 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 -16% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -8% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +61% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour +62% (towns its size +0%).
Towns its size: Hawkhurst comes 432nd of 539
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Cuxton Kent | 3,039 | 9.7 | 7.4 | 2.9 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 41 | Istead Rise Kent | 3,398 | 9.7 | 7.6 | 5.9 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 61 | Hildenborough Kent | 4,943 | 11.3 | 7.5 | 7.4 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 85 | Iwade Kent | 4,533 | 15.2 | 5.7 | 3.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 429 | Thurston Suffolk | 3,009 | 38.3 | 6.7 | 11.1 | C |
| 430 | Coxhoe County Durham | 4,542 | 30.1 | 15 | 6.5 | C |
| 431 | Theale Berkshire | 3,053 | 33.7 | 11.5 | 25.8 | C |
| 432 | Hawkhurst Kent | 3,683 | 30 | 15.3 | 11.9 | C |
| 433 | Hatfield Peverel Essex | 3,622 | 32.8 | 12.5 | 7.2 | C |
| 434 | Fordingbridge Hampshire | 4,947 | 30.1 | 15.3 | 11.9 | C |
| 435 | Llay Clwyd | 4,666 | 34.7 | 10.9 | 5.2 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 539 | 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.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Hawkhurst, and others in Kent.
Police in Hawkhurst identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 62% of Hawkhurst’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (75% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% 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. 204 crimes.
Crime in Hawkhurst 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 14 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Where in Hawkhurst police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 74 | 76% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 40 | 93% violent |
| Petrol stations | 20 | 30% 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 Hawkhurst. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Hawkhurst’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 21 collisions with injuries inside Hawkhurst in five years. 3 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 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 Hawkhurst is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Hawkhurst’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 3 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Hawkhurst 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 Hawkhurst’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Hawkhurst
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawkhurst | 3,683 | 30 | 15.3 | C |
| Hurst Green | 1,181 | 16.7 | 12.1 | B |
| Benenden | 1,409 | 8.3 | 6.4 | A |
| Cranbrook | 3,962 | 31.8 | 20.4 | C− |
| Ticehurst | 1,464 | 43.3 | 12.5 | C− |
| Robertsbridge | 1,439 | 44.1 | 15.4 | D |
| Goudhurst | 1,104 | 25.7 | 13 | C+ |
| Northiam | 1,910 | 15.2 | 7.2 | A− |
Hawkhurst records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Hurst Green, 2.6 miles away, records 16.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Hawkhurst’s 30.
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 Hawkhurst 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 Hawkhurst
Is Hawkhurst safe?
Police recorded 30 violent and sexual offences and 15.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Hawkhurst’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 27% of UK towns. Among 539 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people, Hawkhurst is 432nd from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Hawkhurst?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 16%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 8%, shoplifting and theft rose 61% and anti-social behaviour rose 62%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Hawkhurst?
Violence & sexual offences: 90 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (33) and criminal damage & arson (29), with 47 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.