Photo: Oxyman · CC BY 2.5Brandon stands out for possession of weapons: 3.6 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violence recorded locally dropped 19% in a year. Taking everything together, Brandon scores C (#24 of 34 in Suffolk): more crime per resident than 71% of UK towns, measured on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area between September 2023 and August 2026. It has more violent crime than 72% of UK towns, and more burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 67%. Per 1,000 residents a year, 31.8 violent and sexual offences and 12.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Brandon
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 19% less violent crime per resident in Brandon 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 17% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, Brandon has the 315th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Monmouth, Cleveleys and St Blazey, higher than Annesley Woodhouse, Torpoint and Barnham. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 18% of Brandon’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 26% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Brandon’s C
A firm grade. Built on 1,213 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Brandon 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, Brandon runs highest on possession of weapons (1.4 per 1,000 against 0.4), burglary (3.7 per 1,000 against 1.9) and drugs (2.1 per 1,000 against 1). Anti-social behaviour sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 257 | 27.9 | 22.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 51 | 5.5 | 4.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 49 | 5.3 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 34 | 3.7 | 1.9 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 32 | 3.5 | 8.8 |
| Public order | not graded | 29 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 19 | 2.1 | 1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 19 | 2.1 | 2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 18 | 2 | 1.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 17 | 1.8 | 1.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 13 | 1.4 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 6 | 0.7 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 3 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 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.
Police in Brandon identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 53% of Brandon’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 9% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (56% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 8% 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. 367 crimes.
How crime in Brandon 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 -19% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -17% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft -13% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -26% (towns its size +0%).
1 in 6 Brandon residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
35% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 26% 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.
Brandon’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.
Of 487 towns its size, Brandon is 315th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barton on Sea Hampshire | 6,763 | 9.6 | 5 | 3.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 140 | Woodbridge Suffolk | 10,146 | 20.7 | 9.6 | 7.3 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 169 | Hadleigh Suffolk | 8,638 | 24.9 | 7.5 | 7.1 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 310 | Beccles Suffolk | 9,807 | 29.1 | 13.8 | 16 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 312 | Annesley Woodhouse Nottinghamshire | 6,162 | 31.2 | 11.7 | 5.4 | C |
| 313 | Torpoint Cornwall | 7,163 | 33.7 | 9.7 | 6.9 | C |
| 314 | Barnham West Sussex | 10,139 | 28.7 | 15.2 | 23.7 | C |
| 315 | Brandon Suffolk | 9,218 | 31.8 | 12.1 | 8.2 | C |
| 316 | Meltham West Yorkshire | 8,325 | 33.4 | 10.6 | 9.1 | C |
| 317 | Stakeford Northumberland | 8,197 | 30.7 | 13.4 | 18.2 | C |
| 318 | Hexham Northumberland | 10,945 | 31.9 | 12.3 | 14.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 380 | Mildenhall Suffolk | 9,684 | 38.8 | 13.9 | 12 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 487 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Brandon, and others in Suffolk.
Crime in Brandon 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 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 8 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 Brandon East, Brandon West and Brandon Central; highest in Brandon Central
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon East | 2,631 | 19.9 | 6.7 | |
| Brandon West | 3,194 | 31.5 | 14.5 | |
| Brandon Central | 3,393 | 40.9 | 13.3 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol stations | 78 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 41 | 37% violent |
| Shopping areas | 28 | 68% shoplifting & theft |
| Supermarkets | 28 | 50% shoplifting & theft |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Brandon Central records 1.6× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Brandon. 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 Brandon. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Brandon’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Brandon’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 48 collisions with injuries inside Brandon in five years. 11 people were killed or seriously injured: 5 on foot and 2 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Brandon is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, Brandon had 23.9 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (16.7).
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 Brandon’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Brandon
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon | 9,218 | 31.8 | 12.1 | C |
| Weeting | 1,883 | 13.1 | 6 | A |
| Hockwold cum Wilton | 1,303 | 12 | 6.1 | A |
| Lakenheath | 4,567 | 19 | 8.9 | B |
| Mundford | 1,563 | 10.2 | 3.8 | A+ |
| Feltwell | 2,919 | 11.1 | 4.6 | A |
| Little Eriswell | 4,120 | 8.6 | 1.4 | A+ |
| Thetford | 25,502 | 43.9 | 15.7 | D |
Brandon records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Thetford records more. Weeting, 1.5 miles away, records 13.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Brandon’s 31.8.
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 Brandon 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 Brandon
Is Brandon safe?
Police recorded 31.8 violent and sexual offences and 12.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Brandon’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 29% of UK towns. Among 487 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people, Brandon is 315th from the least crime. 18% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Brandon?
By council ward, Brandon East, Brandon West and Brandon Central record the least violent and household crime per resident: 19.9, 31.5 and 40.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 40.9 in Brandon Central.
Is crime going up in Brandon?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 19%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 17%, shoplifting and theft fell 13% and anti-social behaviour fell 26%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Brandon?
Violence & sexual offences: 257 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (51) and other theft (49), with 32 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Brandon compare with Thetford?
Thetford records 43.9 violent and sexual offences and 15.7 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Brandon’s 31.8 and 12.1, 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.