Photo: Clem Rutter, Rochester Kent · CC BY-SA 3.0Less violent crime is recorded per resident in Meopham than in 70% of UK towns
Vehicle crime stands out: 3.9 per 1,000 residents in Meopham, against 2 in a typical town its size, with 17 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence recorded locally climbed 11% in a year. Still, the overall Safety Grade is B (#14 of 87 in Kent), which means close to the middle of UK towns, judged on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Year on year, 17.1 violent and sexual offences and 12.3 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur 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 Meopham
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% more violent crime per resident in Meopham 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 held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Meopham has the 288th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Menston, Cross Hills and Great Lumley, higher than Barnt Green, Moira and Bovingdon. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Meopham’s B
A fairly firm grade. Built on 376 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Meopham against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How Meopham’s neighbourhoods rank in England
34% 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.
Meopham’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, Meopham runs highest on vehicle crime (3.9 per 1,000 against 2) and burglary (2.8 per 1,000 against 1.9). Anti-social behaviour and violence & sexual offences sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 60 | 13.8 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 24 | 5.5 | 8.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 17 | 3.9 | 2 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 14 | 3.2 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 14 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 12 | 2.8 | 1.9 |
| Public order | not graded | 7 | 1.6 | 3.6 |
| Other crime | not graded | 7 | 1.6 | 1.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 5 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| 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.
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 crime in Meopham 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 +11% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +2% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -5% (towns its size +2%).
Police in Meopham identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 77% of Meopham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 13% 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. 173 crimes.
Meopham places 288th of 706 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Cuxton Kent | 3,039 | 9.7 | 7.4 | 2.9 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 46 | Istead Rise Kent | 3,398 | 9.7 | 7.6 | 5.9 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 69 | Hildenborough Kent | 4,943 | 11.3 | 7.5 | 7.4 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 100 | Iwade Kent | 4,533 | 15.2 | 5.7 | 3.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 285 | Barnt Green Worcestershire | 3,821 | 15.1 | 14.3 | 6.7 | B |
| 286 | Moira Leicestershire | 3,198 | 19.3 | 10.1 | 6.2 | B |
| 287 | Bovingdon Hertfordshire | 5,313 | 21.8 | 7.6 | 2.5 | B |
| 288 | Meopham Kent | 4,349 | 17.1 | 12.3 | 5.4 | B |
| 289 | Brookmans Park Hertfordshire | 4,033 | 20.1 | 9.4 | 6.5 | B |
| 290 | Lawford Essex | 4,488 | 21.2 | 8.4 | 10 | B |
| 291 | Knebworth Hertfordshire | 4,191 | 17.2 | 12.4 | 11.5 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 706 | 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 Meopham, and others in Kent.
Crime in Meopham 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 10 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 4 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
No one died in a collision on Meopham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 23 collisions with injuries inside Meopham in five years. 6 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Meopham is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Meopham’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 4 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Meopham had 6.
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 Meopham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Meopham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meopham | 4,349 | 17.1 | 12.3 | B |
| Istead Rise | 3,398 | 9.7 | 7.6 | A |
| Longfield, New Ash Green and Hartley | 16,077 | 17.1 | 13.4 | B− |
| Culverstone Green | 2,038 | 11.5 | 7.7 | A |
| Vigo Village | 2,005 | 16.3 | 13.6 | B |
| Gravesend | 58,105 | 45.1 | 23.1 | D |
| Shorne | 1,038 | 11.2 | 15.7 | B |
| Halling | 2,926 | 18.8 | 11.1 | B |
Meopham records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Istead Rise, 1.9 miles away, records 9.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Meopham’s 17.1.
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 Meopham 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 Meopham
Is Meopham safe?
Police recorded 17.1 violent and sexual offences and 12.3 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Meopham’s built-up area). That earns a B for safety: less crime per resident than 57% of UK towns. Among 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Meopham is 288th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Meopham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 26%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Meopham?
Violence & sexual offences: 60 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (17) and criminal damage & arson (14), with 24 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Meopham compare with Gravesend?
Gravesend records 45.1 violent and sexual offences and 23.1 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Meopham’s 17.1 and 12.3, 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.