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Herne - Village CentrePhoto: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0
BSafety Grade
Safety in Herne · police.uk, 2023–2026

For its size, Herne has less crime per resident than 87% of UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people

All told, Herne grades B for safety (#13 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. Violent crime barely moved in a year. Violence and property crime split as 21.7 violent and sexual offences and 7.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.

Violent crime
21.7
per 1,000 residents a year · graded
Homes & vehicles
7.6
burglary, vehicle crime, damage · graded
Shoplifting & theft
5
per 1,000 a year · not graded
Anti-social behaviour
6.3
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 Herne

Less crime than most places its size

Of 372 UK towns of 10,000 to 20,000 people, Herne has the 55th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Polegate, Sidmouth and Whickham, higher than Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne, Godalming and Carterton. Towns its size ↓

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

Safety Grade

What sits behind Herne’s B

Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 87% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: less crime than most for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
Violent and sexual offences (21.7 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 53% of UK towns
Homes and vehicles (7.6 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 65% of UK towns
B−B

A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,309 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Herne 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 offences21.4
Anti-social behaviour8.7
Criminal damage & arson4.3
Other theft4
Drugs2.2
Shoplifting1.4
Burglary1.3
Vehicle crime1.3
Other crime1.3
Public order1.3
Possession of weapons0.5
Robbery0.2
Bicycle theft0
Theft from the person0
Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Not gradedTypical town its size

Public order and shoplifting sit below it.

Show as a table
CategoryIn the gradeReportsPer 1,000Typical
Violence & sexual offencesViolent31921.430.4
Anti-social behaviournot graded1298.712.4
Criminal damage & arsonHome & vehicle644.36.2
Other theftnot graded5944.4
Drugsnot graded322.21.9
Shopliftingnot graded211.46.1
BurglaryHome & vehicle201.32.4
Vehicle crimeHome & vehicle201.32.8
Other crimenot graded201.31.8
Public ordernot graded191.35.4
Possession of weaponsViolent80.50.7
RobberyViolent30.20.5
Bicycle theftnot graded000.3
Theft from the personnot graded000.3

“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.

Neighbourhoods · England-wide rank

How Herne’s neighbourhoods rank in England

0%1
0%2
11%3
0%4
14%5
13%6
41%7
12%8
0%9
10%10
Higher crimeLower crime

22% 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.

Herne’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.

Towns its size

Among 372 towns its size, Herne ranks 55th for the least graded crime

#TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesShops & theftSafety
1Kesgrave Suffolk14,947133.32.7A
…
52Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne Gloucestershire14,96920.38.58.6B
53Godalming Surrey10,45020.38.710B
54Carterton Oxfordshire17,95122.96.25.9B
55Herne Kent14,87421.77.65B
56Neston Cheshire14,963236.46.7B
57Gillingham Dorset11,009209.48B
58Sherborne Dorset10,35921.67.88.9B
…
67Longfield, New Ash Green and Hartley Kent16,07717.113.410.8B−
…
105Hythe Kent14,61324.68.98.7B−
…
192Minster (Swale) Kent16,73529136.1C
…
267Swanley Kent17,20935.716.816C−
…
372Haverfordwest Dyfed12,08891.428.632.3D−

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 Herne, and others in Kent.

What happened next

Police in Herne identify a suspect more often than across UK towns

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

No suspect was identified for 60% of Herne’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% 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 4% of violent and 3% 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. 451 crimes.

Where in Herne

Lowest recorded crime in Herne & Broomfield, Greenhill and Heron; highest in Heron

By ward per 1,000 a year
WardResidentsViolentHomes & vehicles
Herne & Broomfield8,65015.36.1
Greenhill4,20426.48.5
Heron2,02039.412.4
ViolentHomes & vehicles

A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Heron records 2.1× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Herne.

Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Herne’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026.

Trend · monthly

Violent crime held steady over the year

“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 +4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -4% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +27% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +98% (towns its size -4%).

1,000 residents · one year

Crime in Herne per 1,000 residents

Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Shoplifting & theft (not graded)
330
violent and sexual offences, 12 months to August 2026
104
homes & vehicles
80
shoplifting & theft
34
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 7 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.

On the roads

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

Police recorded 66 collisions with injuries inside Herne in five years. 19 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 1 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 Herne’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Herne’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.

Counting serious injuries too, Herne had 25.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).

0
people killed, 2021–2025
19
killed or seriously injured
1
of them on foot
1
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 Herne’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Neighbours

Crime in the places around Herne

ABCD
TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesSafety
Herne14,87421.77.6B
Herne Bay24,87340.115C−
Hersden2,11844.215.4D
Sturry4,85731.312.4C
Whitstable32,18527.113.3C
Blean1,32796A
Rough Common1,29114.75.9A−
Canterbury55,10761.923.2D−

Herne records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Blean, 5 miles away, records 9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Herne’s 21.7.

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 Herne 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 Herne

Is Herne safe?

Police recorded 21.7 violent and sexual offences and 7.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Herne’s built-up area). That earns a B for safety: less crime per resident than 58% of UK towns. Among 372 UK towns of 10,000 to 20,000 people, Herne is 55th from the least crime.

What are the safest areas of Herne?

By council ward, Herne & Broomfield, Greenhill and Heron record the least violent and household crime per resident: 15.3, 26.4 and 39.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 39.4 in Heron.

Is crime going up in Herne?

In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 27% and anti-social behaviour rose 98%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.

What is the most common crime in Herne?

Violence & sexual offences: 319 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (64) and other theft (59), with 129 reports of anti-social behaviour.

How does Herne compare with Margate?

Margate records 56.1 violent and sexual offences and 17.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Herne’s 21.7 and 7.6, 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.