Photo: Mat Fascione · CC BY-SA 2.0More burglary, vehicle crime and damage is recorded per resident in Hinckley than in 85% of UK towns
Violent crime was down 8% in a year. Behind the grade sit 30.5 violent and sexual offences and 16.7 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year. Overall, it grades C for safety (#43 of 50 in Leicestershire). Measured against the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, 82% of them record more crime per resident.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Hinckley
One ward carries much of the rate
Hinckley Castle ward, where 34% of Hinckley’s shoplifting and theft is recorded, recorded 1,454 of Hinckley’s 4,634 violent and sexual offences in three years: 69 per 1,000 of its own residents a year. Across the rest of Hinckley the figure is 24.3. Where in Hinckley ↓
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 8% less violent crime per resident in Hinckley 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 rose 13% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 124 UK towns and cities of 36,000 to 68,000 people, Hinckley has the 40th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Stourbridge, Neath and Salisbury, higher than Canvey Island, Bamber Bridge and Bexhill-on-Sea. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C for Hinckley, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 7,168 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Hinckley 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, Hinckley runs highest on burglary (5.3 per 1,000 against 3.4). Anti-social behaviour and drugs sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,437 | 28.3 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 499 | 9.8 | 17.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 358 | 7.1 | 7.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 326 | 6.4 | 10.3 |
| Public order | not graded | 288 | 5.7 | 7.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 269 | 5.3 | 3.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 256 | 5 | 6.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 205 | 4 | 4.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 101 | 2 | 3.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 69 | 1.4 | 2.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 32 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| Robbery | Violent | 29 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 21 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 20 | 0.4 | 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Burbage Sketchley and Stretton, Hinckley Trinity and Burbage St Catherines and Lash Hill; highest in Hinckley Castle
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burbage Sketchley and Stretton | 10,461 | 15.8 | 12.1 | |
| Hinckley Trinity | 7,350 | 24.4 | 12.5 | |
| Burbage St Catherines and Lash Hill | 6,053 | 21.6 | 16.5 | |
| Hinckley De Montfort | 10,520 | 28.1 | 13.9 | |
| Hinckley Clarendon | 9,321 | 31 | 21.1 | |
| Hinckley Castle | 7,024 | 69 | 26.1 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 709 | 32% violent |
| Supermarkets | 476 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 281 | 37% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 172 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Police stations | 166 | 37% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 105 | 37% homes & vehicles |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Hinckley Castle records 2.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Hinckley. 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 Hinckley. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Hinckley’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How Hinckley’s neighbourhoods rank in England
34% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 8% 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.
Hinckley’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.
Hinckley is 40th of 124 UK towns of 36,000 to 68,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Canvey Island Essex | 38,004 | 33.6 | 12.6 | 9.7 | C |
| 38 | Bamber Bridge Lancashire | 40,359 | 33.4 | 13.5 | 14.9 | C |
| 39 | Bexhill-on-Sea East Sussex | 43,750 | 33.4 | 13.7 | 19.1 | C |
| 40 | Hinckley Leicestershire | 50,729 | 30.5 | 16.7 | 15.3 | C |
| 41 | Welwyn Garden City Hertfordshire | 51,504 | 32.8 | 14.5 | 20.1 | C |
| 42 | Bridgend Mid Glamorgan | 51,751 | 38.1 | 10.4 | 12.8 | C− |
| 43 | Eastleigh Hampshire | 48,355 | 37.8 | 10.7 | 12.2 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 70 | Loughborough Leicestershire | 64,850 | 35.6 | 22 | 26.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 124 | 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 Hinckley, and others in Leicestershire.
How crime in Hinckley 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 -8% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +13% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -23% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +14% (towns its size -2%).
Crime in Hinckley 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 16 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 12 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Hinckley identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 75% of Hinckley’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 17% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (54% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% 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. 2,493 crimes.
Six people died in collisions on Hinckley’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 160 collisions with injuries inside Hinckley in five years, in which six people died. 62 people were killed or seriously injured: 15 on foot and 9 on a bicycle.
That is more than 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 Hinckley’s size would see about 3 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Hinckley’s own rate (2.4) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Hinckley had 24.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 24% 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 Hinckley’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Hinckley
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinckley | 50,729 | 30.5 | 16.7 | C |
| Barwell | 9,149 | 32.8 | 11.9 | C |
| Stoke Golding | 2,004 | 19.8 | 9.8 | B |
| Earl Shilton | 10,885 | 33.5 | 12.2 | C |
| Sharnford | 1,066 | 18.5 | 11.6 | B |
| Stoney Stanton | 4,090 | 22.8 | 9.9 | B− |
| Sapcote | 3,266 | 29.5 | 9.3 | C+ |
| Nuneaton | 88,818 | 42.7 | 18.5 | D |
Hinckley records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Nuneaton records more. Barwell, 2.4 miles away, records 32.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Hinckley’s 30.5.
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 Hinckley 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 Hinckley
Is Hinckley safe?
Police recorded 30.5 violent and sexual offences and 16.7 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Hinckley’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 25% of UK towns. Among 124 UK towns of 36,000 to 68,000 people, Hinckley is 40th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Hinckley?
By council ward, Burbage Sketchley and Stretton, Hinckley Trinity and Burbage St Catherines and Lash Hill record the least violent and household crime per resident: 15.8, 24.4 and 21.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 69 in Hinckley Castle.
Is crime going up in Hinckley?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 8%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 13%, shoplifting and theft fell 23% and anti-social behaviour rose 14%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Hinckley?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,437 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (358) and shoplifting (326), with 499 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Hinckley compare with Nuneaton?
Nuneaton records 42.7 violent and sexual offences and 18.5 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Hinckley’s 30.5 and 16.7, 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.