Park Farmhouse · Photo: Sandy Gerrard · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Glemsford records less burglary, vehicle crime and damage than 89% of UK towns
Violence recorded locally dropped 35% in a year. Year on year, 18.8 violent and sexual offences and 4.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage occur per 1,000 residents. Across all the graded crimes, Glemsford lands on B+ (#9 of 34 in Suffolk): less crime per resident than 74% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Glemsford
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 35% less violent crime per resident in Glemsford than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 539 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people, Glemsford has the 117th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Minchinhampton, Bodicote and Colden Common, higher than Chalfont St Giles, Cubbington and Long Melford. 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. 54% of Glemsford’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% 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.
Inside Glemsford’s B+ for safety
A fairly firm grade. Built on 258 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Glemsford 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 crime in Glemsford 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 -35% (towns its size +1%).
Most Glemsford residents live in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
54% 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.
Glemsford’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.
Police in Glemsford identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 37% of Glemsford’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 2% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (71% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 2% of violent and 0% 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. 103 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Violence & sexual offences and anti-social behaviour sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 47 | 12.7 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 15 | 4.1 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 9 | 2.4 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 7 | 1.9 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 7 | 1.9 | 3.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 4 | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 3 | 0.8 | 2 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 2 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 1 | 0.3 | 1.9 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 0 | 0 | 1.8 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| 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.
Of 539 towns its size, Glemsford is 117th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Little Eriswell Suffolk | 4,120 | 8.6 | 1.4 | 0.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Worlingham Suffolk | 3,618 | 10.3 | 4.4 | 2 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 50 | Trimley St Mary Suffolk | 3,736 | 13.7 | 4.2 | 3.2 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 97 | Rendlesham Suffolk | 3,185 | 17.2 | 4.9 | 1.7 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 114 | Chalfont St Giles Buckinghamshire | 4,707 | 13.6 | 9.5 | 4.7 | A− |
| 115 | Cubbington Warwickshire | 3,895 | 16.9 | 6.2 | 23.5 | A− |
| 116 | Long Melford Suffolk | 3,895 | 15.2 | 7.9 | 3.7 | A− |
| 117 | Glemsford Suffolk | 3,693 | 18.8 | 4.5 | 2.2 | B+ |
| 118 | Thorpe Willoughby North Yorkshire | 3,482 | 19.2 | 4.2 | 2 | B+ |
| 119 | Whitehead Mid and East Antrim | 3,537 | 18.3 | 5.1 | 3.9 | B+ |
| 120 | Heacham Norfolk | 3,978 | 18.5 | 4.9 | 3.5 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 539 | 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 Glemsford, and others in Suffolk.
Crime in Glemsford 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 4 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 2 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 Glemsford’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 8 collisions with injuries inside Glemsford in five years. 1 person was killed or seriously injured: 0 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Glemsford is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Glemsford’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 3 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Glemsford had 1.
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 Glemsford’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Glemsford
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glemsford | 3,693 | 18.8 | 4.5 | B+ |
| Long Melford | 3,895 | 15.2 | 7.9 | A− |
| Clare | 2,278 | 18 | 7.5 | B+ |
| Acton | 1,666 | 15 | 4 | A |
| Sudbury | 23,922 | 37.9 | 11.8 | C− |
| Lavenham | 1,224 | 22.9 | 8.4 | B− |
| Great Waldingfield | 1,377 | 20.1 | 3.6 | B+ |
| Cock and End | 1,346 | 80.8 | 3.5 | D− |
Glemsford records more graded crime per resident than 2 of its 7 neighbours. Long Melford, 2.6 miles away, records 15.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Glemsford’s 18.8.
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 Glemsford 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 Glemsford
Is Glemsford safe?
Police recorded 18.8 violent and sexual offences and 4.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Glemsford’s built-up area). That earns a B+ for safety: less crime per resident than 74% of UK towns. Among 539 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people, Glemsford is 117th from the least crime. 54% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
Is crime going up in Glemsford?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 35%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 28%, shoplifting and theft fell 13% and anti-social behaviour rose 88%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Glemsford?
Violence & sexual offences: 47 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (9) and public order (7), with 15 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Glemsford compare with Bury St Edmunds?
Bury St Edmunds records 39.8 violent and sexual offences and 13.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Glemsford’s 18.8 and 4.5, 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.