Photo: Malc McDonald · CC BY-SA 2.0Compared with UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, East Grinstead has less crime per resident than three in four them
East Grinstead’s overall Safety Grade is B− (#22 of 40 in West Sussex): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violence recorded locally held about level in a year. For every 1,000 residents, 23.2 violent and sexual offences and 11.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were logged a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in East Grinstead
Less crime than most places its size
Of 247 UK towns of 18,000 to 36,000 people, East Grinstead has the 47th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Burgess Hill, Stamford and Maghull, higher than Sevenoaks, Lancing and Sompting and Biggleswade. 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. 20% of East Grinstead’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.
East Grinstead: B− for safety, and why
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,732 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks East Grinstead against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
1 in 5 East Grinstead residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
60% 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.
East Grinstead’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.
East Grinstead places 47th of 247 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Rustington West Sussex | 33,885 | 17.3 | 8.9 | 9.7 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 28 | Shoreham-by-Sea West Sussex | 23,659 | 21.6 | 9.5 | 19.5 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 44 | Sevenoaks Kent | 26,474 | 19.1 | 14.8 | 17.1 | B− |
| 45 | Lancing and Sompting West Sussex | 27,924 | 25.6 | 9.1 | 15.5 | B− |
| 46 | Biggleswade Bedfordshire | 21,945 | 23.8 | 11 | 13.9 | B− |
| 47 | East Grinstead West Sussex | 26,350 | 23.2 | 11.6 | 10.8 | B− |
| 48 | Hitchin Hertfordshire | 35,220 | 24.7 | 10.2 | 13.9 | B− |
| 49 | Omagh Fermanagh and Omagh | 20,458 | 25.9 | 9.4 | 10.3 | C+ |
| 50 | Abbots Langley and Kings Langley Hertfordshire | 18,203 | 21.8 | 13.5 | 6.4 | C+ |
| 51 | Burgess Hill West Sussex | 33,352 | 23.1 | 12.8 | 14.8 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 210 | Chichester West Sussex | 31,709 | 50.1 | 19.3 | 36.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 247 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | 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 East Grinstead, and others in West Sussex.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, East Grinstead runs highest on anti-social behaviour (17.4 per 1,000 against 12.4). Violence & sexual offences and other crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 548 | 20.8 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 458 | 17.4 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 136 | 5.2 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 132 | 5 | 4.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 128 | 4.9 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 116 | 4.4 | 6.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 77 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 47 | 1.8 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 39 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
| Other crime | not graded | 27 | 1 | 1.8 |
| Robbery | Violent | 22 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 18 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 11 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 8 | 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.
Lowest recorded crime in Ashurst Wood, East Grinstead Herontye and East Grinstead Imberhorne; highest in East Grinstead Town
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashurst Wood | 955 | 7.3 | 5.6 | |
| East Grinstead Herontye | 4,347 | 14.3 | 7.8 | |
| East Grinstead Imberhorne | 3,757 | 13.5 | 9.1 | |
| East Grinstead Ashplats | 5,979 | 19.1 | 8 | |
| East Grinstead Baldwins | 5,099 | 19.4 | 11.8 | |
| East Grinstead Town | 6,213 | 44.1 | 19.7 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 422 | 41% violent |
| Supermarkets | 214 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 129 | 27% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 128 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Nightclubs | 106 | 34% violent |
| Hospitals | 42 | 62% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so East Grinstead Town records 2.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of East Grinstead. 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 East Grinstead. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside East Grinstead’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in East Grinstead identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 75% of East Grinstead’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 24% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (58% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 4% 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. 991 crimes.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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 -4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -13% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -4% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +51% (towns its size -4%).
Crime in East Grinstead 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 10 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 10 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
One person died in collisions on East Grinstead’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 150 collisions with injuries inside East Grinstead in five years, in which one person died. 50 people were killed or seriously injured: 11 on foot and 7 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 East Grinstead’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so East Grinstead’s own rate (0.8) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, East Grinstead had 38.0 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). 22% 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 East Grinstead’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around East Grinstead
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Grinstead | 26,350 | 23.2 | 11.6 | B− |
| Felbridge | 2,031 | 15.6 | 10.7 | B+ |
| Ashurst Wood | 1,508 | 14.6 | 5.3 | A− |
| Dormansland | 2,300 | 8.7 | 8 | A |
| Crawley Down | 5,775 | 13.2 | 5.3 | A |
| Forest Row | 3,881 | 20.3 | 12.5 | B− |
| Lingfield | 3,622 | 25 | 19.1 | C |
| Copthorne | 4,917 | 34.2 | 15.8 | C− |
East Grinstead records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Lingfield and Copthorne record more. Felbridge, 1.8 miles away, records 15.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against East Grinstead’s 23.2.
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 East Grinstead 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 East Grinstead
Is East Grinstead safe?
Police recorded 23.2 violent and sexual offences and 11.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside East Grinstead’s built-up area). That earns a B− for safety: less crime per resident than 45% of UK towns. Among 247 UK towns of 18,000 to 36,000 people, East Grinstead is 47th from the least crime. 20% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of East Grinstead?
By council ward, Ashurst Wood, East Grinstead Herontye and East Grinstead Imberhorne record the least violent and household crime per resident: 7.3, 14.3 and 13.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 44.1 in East Grinstead Town.
Is crime going up in East Grinstead?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 13%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 51%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
Is East Grinstead town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 106 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 34% of them violent, and East Grinstead Town ward records 44.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in March and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in East Grinstead?
Violence & sexual offences: 548 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (136) and other theft (132), with 458 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does East Grinstead compare with Crawley?
Crawley records 42.7 violent and sexual offences and 15 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against East Grinstead’s 23.2 and 11.6, 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.