Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0Sittingbourne sees more crime per resident than 87% of UK towns
Each year brought 41.3 violent and sexual offences and 17.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents. Recorded violence fell 13% in a year. Still, the Safety Grade comes out at D, drawn from crimes police recorded inside Sittingbourne’s built-up area through September 2023 to August 2026: #67 of 87 in Kent.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Sittingbourne
One ward carries much of the rate
Roman ward, where 32% of Sittingbourne’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 1,736 of Sittingbourne’s 6,701 violent and sexual offences in three years: 83.4 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Sittingbourne the figure is 35.4. Where in Sittingbourne ↓
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 13% less violent crime per resident in Sittingbourne 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 fell 20% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 121 UK towns and cities of 38,000 to 73,000 people, Sittingbourne has the 70th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Runcorn, Tynemouth and Rochester, higher than Lowestoft, Kirkby and Widnes. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Sittingbourne’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 9,544 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Sittingbourne 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, Sittingbourne runs highest on anti-social behaviour (24.8 per 1,000 against 17.5), other crime (2.9 per 1,000 against 2.1) and shoplifting (12.3 per 1,000 against 10.3). Burglary and public order sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,853 | 34.1 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 1,350 | 24.8 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 670 | 12.3 | 10.3 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 472 | 8.7 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 345 | 6.3 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 212 | 3.9 | 4.9 |
| Public order | not graded | 209 | 3.8 | 7.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 155 | 2.9 | 2.1 |
| Drugs | not graded | 135 | 2.5 | 3.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 103 | 1.9 | 3.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 60 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 50 | 0.9 | 1.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 30 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 16 | 0.3 | 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.
How crime in Sittingbourne 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 -13% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -20% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -4% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +9% (towns its size -2%).
Crime in Sittingbourne 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 14 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 20 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Lowest recorded crime in Woodstock, Teynham and Lynsted and Kemsley; highest in Roman
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodstock | 5,987 | 14 | 6 | |
| Teynham and Lynsted | 1,006 | 18.2 | 9.6 | |
| Kemsley | 6,790 | 26.9 | 13.1 | |
| Borden and Grove Park | 4,890 | 30.2 | 11.6 | |
| West Downs | 1,154 | 33.5 | 17.3 | |
| Homewood | 6,254 | 35.5 | 15.5 | |
| The Meads | 4,028 | 39.1 | 15.6 | |
| Murston | 6,938 | 46.2 | 21.2 | |
| Milton Regis | 6,021 | 47.4 | 21.1 | |
| Chalkwell | 3,679 | 54 | 25.5 | |
| Roman | 6,938 | 83.4 | 30.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,950 | 34% anti-social behaviour |
| Shopping areas | 823 | 33% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 464 | 70% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 291 | 35% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 189 | 31% anti-social behaviour |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 116 | 41% violent |
| Hospitals | 37 | 35% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 24 | 33% homes & vehicles |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Roman records 2.4× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Sittingbourne. 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 Sittingbourne. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Sittingbourne’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How Sittingbourne’s neighbourhoods rank in England
11% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 25% 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.
Sittingbourne’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: Sittingbourne comes 70th of 121
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 25 | Royal Tunbridge Wells Kent | 51,215 | 30.7 | 13.1 | 18.3 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 67 | Lowestoft Suffolk | 71,308 | 40.6 | 17 | 14.3 | D |
| 68 | Kirkby Merseyside | 45,559 | 43 | 15 | 10.3 | D |
| 69 | Widnes Cheshire | 59,938 | 45.3 | 13 | 12 | D |
| 70 | Sittingbourne Kent | 54,385 | 41.3 | 17.5 | 20.8 | D |
| 71 | Kidderminster Worcestershire | 57,567 | 40.2 | 18.5 | 20.5 | D |
| 72 | Aldershot Hampshire | 39,827 | 43 | 15.8 | 17.1 | D |
| 73 | Worksop Nottinghamshire | 43,435 | 40.2 | 20.9 | 32.9 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 76 | Rochester Kent | 67,279 | 44.7 | 16.8 | 17.3 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 82 | Dartford Kent | 69,131 | 43.5 | 20.8 | 17.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 87 | Folkestone Kent | 51,987 | 49.7 | 17.2 | 22 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 121 | Bridgwater Somerset | 47,846 | 76.8 | 18.9 | 29.3 | 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 Sittingbourne, and others in Kent.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 67% of Sittingbourne’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (69% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 5% 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. 3,544 crimes.
Three people died in collisions on Sittingbourne’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 397 collisions with injuries inside Sittingbourne in five years, in which three people died (2 were pedestrians). 72 people were killed or seriously injured: 16 on foot and 8 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 Sittingbourne’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Sittingbourne’s own rate (1.1) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Sittingbourne had 26.5 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). 22% 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 Sittingbourne’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Sittingbourne
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sittingbourne | 54,385 | 41.3 | 17.5 | D |
| Iwade | 4,533 | 15.2 | 5.7 | A− |
| Teynham | 3,128 | 38.7 | 17.1 | C− |
| Newington | 2,691 | 40.4 | 14.9 | C− |
| Lower Halstow | 1,210 | 10.5 | 7.2 | A |
| Upchurch | 1,727 | 17.8 | 5 | A− |
| Queenborough | 3,915 | 49.7 | 23.4 | D |
| Halfway Houses | 4,396 | 25.7 | 10.5 | C+ |
Sittingbourne records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Queenborough records more. Iwade, 2.3 miles away, records 15.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Sittingbourne’s 41.3.
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 Sittingbourne 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 Sittingbourne
Is Sittingbourne safe?
Police recorded 41.3 violent and sexual offences and 17.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Sittingbourne’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 13% of UK towns. Among 121 UK towns of 38,000 to 73,000 people, Sittingbourne is 70th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Sittingbourne?
By council ward, Woodstock, Teynham and Lynsted and Kemsley record the least violent and household crime per resident: 14, 18.2 and 26.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 83.4 in Roman.
Is crime going up in Sittingbourne?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 13%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 20%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 9%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Sittingbourne?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,853 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (670) and criminal damage & arson (472), with 1,350 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Sittingbourne 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 Sittingbourne’s 41.3 and 17.5, 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.