Photo: Malc McDonald · CC BY-SA 2.0Dorking stands out for burglary: 2.3 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violent crime here is higher than in 70% of UK towns; burglary, vehicle crime and damage, higher than in 79%. Behind the grade sit 31.2 violent and sexual offences and 14.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year. Overall, it grades C for safety (#51 of 65 in Surrey). Violence recorded locally dropped 11% in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Dorking
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% less violent crime per resident in Dorking than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 333 UK towns of 12,000 to 24,000 people, Dorking has the 188th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Swallownest and Aston, Kidsgrove and Ashford, higher than Enderby and Narborough, Biddulph and Strabane. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Dorking’s C
A firm grade. Built on 2,382 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Dorking 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 Dorking’s neighbourhoods rank in England
20% 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.
Dorking’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Dorking runs highest on burglary (5.4 per 1,000 against 2.4), drugs (2.5 per 1,000 against 1.9) and public order (6.8 per 1,000 against 5.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 466 | 26.7 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 210 | 12 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 127 | 7.3 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 118 | 6.8 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 110 | 6.3 | 6.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 95 | 5.4 | 2.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 82 | 4.7 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 46 | 2.6 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 44 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 35 | 2 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 9 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 8 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 6 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 5 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
“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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
How crime in Dorking has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-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 -11% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -3% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +1% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +0% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in Dorking 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 13 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 Dorking identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 74% of Dorking’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” (68% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% of violent and 2% 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. 848 crimes.
Of 333 towns its size, Dorking is 188th from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 4 | Ashtead Surrey | 14,830 | 12.6 | 7.1 | 4.5 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Worcester Park and Stoneleigh Surrey | 15,851 | 13.1 | 9.6 | 4.1 | A− |
| 16 | Great Bookham and Fetcham Surrey | 21,655 | 15.3 | 7.5 | 5.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | Farncombe Surrey | 13,247 | 18.4 | 6.8 | 4.1 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 185 | Enderby and Narborough Leicestershire | 13,178 | 32 | 13.5 | 12 | C |
| 186 | Biddulph Staffordshire | 17,490 | 33.5 | 12.2 | 5.6 | C |
| 187 | Strabane Derry City and Strabane | 13,507 | 35.1 | 10.7 | 9.2 | C |
| 188 | Dorking Surrey | 17,463 | 31.2 | 14.6 | 12.9 | C |
| 189 | Haydock Merseyside | 16,143 | 33.2 | 12.7 | 11.9 | C |
| 190 | South Normanton and Pinxton Derbyshire | 16,028 | 33.1 | 12.9 | 9.3 | C |
| 191 | Killingworth Tyne and Wear | 12,180 | 30.2 | 16.1 | 20.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 333 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Dorking, and others in Surrey.
Lowest recorded crime in Mickleham, Westhumble and Pixham, Holmwoods and Dorking North; highest in Dorking South
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mickleham, Westhumble and Pixham | 569 | 8.8 | 15.2 | |
| Holmwoods | 5,126 | 32.6 | 9.1 | |
| Dorking North | 4,448 | 25.4 | 16.9 | |
| Dorking South | 7,320 | 35.1 | 16.7 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Shopping areas | 188 | 40% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 141 | 35% violent |
| Supermarkets | 136 | 46% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 93 | 28% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 38 | 32% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 Dorking. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Dorking’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 Dorking’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 134 collisions with injuries inside Dorking in five years. 37 people were killed or seriously injured: 10 on foot and 13 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Dorking’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Dorking’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Dorking had 42.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 27% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
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 Dorking’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Dorking
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorking | 17,463 | 31.2 | 14.6 | C |
| Westcott | 2,275 | 25.6 | 10.6 | C+ |
| Brockham | 2,206 | 11 | 8.9 | A− |
| Box Hill | 1,271 | 16 | 4.7 | A− |
| Beare Green | 1,940 | 15.6 | 8.1 | B+ |
| Great Bookham and Fetcham | 21,655 | 15.3 | 7.5 | A− |
| Leatherhead | 11,482 | 40.3 | 18.5 | D |
| Gomshall | 1,378 | 15.8 | 12.4 | B |
Dorking records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Leatherhead records more. Westcott, 1.7 miles away, records 25.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Dorking’s 31.2.
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 Dorking 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 Dorking
Is Dorking safe?
Police recorded 31.2 violent and sexual offences and 14.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Dorking’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 26% of UK towns. Among 333 UK towns of 12,000 to 24,000 people, Dorking is 188th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Dorking?
By council ward, Mickleham, Westhumble and Pixham, Holmwoods and Dorking North record the least violent and household crime per resident: 8.8, 32.6 and 25.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 35.1 in Dorking South.
Is crime going up in Dorking?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Dorking?
Violence & sexual offences: 466 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (127) and public order (118), with 210 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Dorking compare with Redhill?
Redhill records 40.6 violent and sexual offences and 13.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Dorking’s 31.2 and 14.6, 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.