This page shows what police recorded inside Kelsale’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026; it carries no Safety Grade. The town falls under the 1,000-resident floor for a Safety Grade, where a few incidents would move its rate a long way. The local count comes to 26.4 violent and sexual offences and 5.4 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people each year.
Violent crime
26.4
per 1,000 residents a year · graded
Homes & vehicles
5.4
burglary, vehicle crime, damage · graded
Shoplifting & theft
3.8
per 1,000 a year · not graded
Anti-social behaviour
3.8
reports per 1,000 a year · not graded
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
By type
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Violence & sexual offences45.3
Other crime6.5
Public order4.9
Other theft4.9
Drugs4.9
Possession of weapons4.9
Criminal damage & arson1.6
Shoplifting0
Burglary0
Vehicle crime0
Bicycle theft0
Robbery0
Theft from the person0
Anti-social behaviour0
Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Not gradedTypical town its size
Against the typical town its size, Kelsale runs highest on violence & sexual offences (45.3 per 1,000 against 16.6).
Show as a table
Category
In the grade
Reports
Per 1,000
Typical
Violence & sexual offences
Violent
28
45.3
16.6
Other crime
not graded
4
6.5
1.1
Public order
not graded
3
4.9
2.4
Other theft
not graded
3
4.9
2.5
Drugs
not graded
3
4.9
0.6
Possession of weapons
Violent
3
4.9
0
Criminal damage & arson
Home & vehicle
1
1.6
3.2
Shoplifting
not graded
0
0
0
Burglary
Home & vehicle
0
0
1.6
Vehicle crime
Home & vehicle
0
0
1.5
Bicycle theft
not graded
0
0
0
Robbery
Violent
0
0
0
Theft from the person
not graded
0
0
0
Anti-social behaviour
not graded
0
0
5.3
“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 1,000 to 2,500 people.
violent and sexual offences, 12 months to August 2026
1
homes & vehicles
3
shoplifting & theft
57
of the three, per 1,000
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 2 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Trend · monthly
31 violent and sexual offences in the last 12 months, against 10 the year before
Violent crime per 1,000 a year
KelsaleUK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people
Homes & vehicles per 1,000 a year
KelsaleUK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 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).
Kelsale records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Saxmundham and Leiston record more. Framlingham, 6.3 miles away, records 16.9 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Kelsale’s 26.4.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
How to read these numbers
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 Kelsale 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 Kelsale
Is Kelsale safe?
Police recorded 26.4 violent and sexual offences and 5.4 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Kelsale’s built-up area).
Is crime going up in Kelsale?
Police recorded 31 violent and sexual offences in the 12 months to August 2026, against 10 in the 12 months before. With numbers this small, a few crimes change the rate a lot.
What is the most common crime in Kelsale?
Violence & sexual offences: 28 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came other crime (4) and public order (3), with 0 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Photo: Adrian Cable · CC BY-SA 2.0