Photo: The Voice of Hassocks · CC0More violent crime is recorded per resident in Wick than in 81% of UK towns
At 10.4 per 1,000 residents, shoplifting in Wick runs well past the 6.1 of a typical town its size (138 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). The local count comes to 37.6 violent and sexual offences and 14.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people each year. The grade is C−, built on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #36 of 40 in West Sussex.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Wick
More crime than many places its size
Of 397 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people, Wick has the 281st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Baildon, Swanley and East Ardsley, higher than Dawlish, Addlestone and Pyle. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Wick’s grade
A firm grade. Built on 2,055 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Wick 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, Wick runs highest on shoplifting (10.4 per 1,000 against 6.1), vehicle crime (4.1 per 1,000 against 2.8) and anti-social behaviour (15.3 per 1,000 against 12.4). Burglary sits below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 472 | 35.7 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 202 | 15.3 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 138 | 10.4 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 84 | 6.3 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 81 | 6.1 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 71 | 5.4 | 4.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 54 | 4.1 | 2.8 |
| Other crime | not graded | 26 | 2 | 1.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 25 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 21 | 1.6 | 2.4 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 13 | 1 | 0.3 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 13 | 1 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 13 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 4 | 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 Wick’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 22% 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.
Wick’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 397 towns its size, Wick is 281st from the least graded crime
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 10 | Southwater West Sussex | 11,204 | 13.8 | 6.8 | 3.9 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 39 | Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint West Sussex | 14,216 | 15.3 | 11.3 | 11.7 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 142 | Billingshurst West Sussex | 9,121 | 25.6 | 10.7 | 9.8 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 166 | Selsey West Sussex | 10,740 | 27.5 | 10.7 | 7.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 278 | Dawlish Devon | 11,800 | 39.5 | 11.8 | 12.8 | C− |
| 279 | Addlestone Surrey | 13,748 | 35.8 | 15.9 | 17.2 | C− |
| 280 | Pyle Mid Glamorgan | 14,075 | 40.1 | 11.6 | 8.6 | C− |
| 281 | Wick West Sussex | 13,231 | 37.6 | 14.2 | 18.3 | C− |
| 282 | Rushall and Shelfield West Midlands | 12,844 | 32.5 | 19.4 | 8.4 | C− |
| 283 | Hayle Cornwall | 9,040 | 36.7 | 15.3 | 16.4 | C− |
| 284 | Heysham Lancashire | 16,593 | 36.7 | 15.6 | 7.3 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 397 | 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 Wick, and others in West Sussex.
Crime in Wick 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 65% of Wick’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 16% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (64% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% 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. 711 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 +2% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -23% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -29% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -5% (towns its size -4%).
Where in Wick police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 333 | 67% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 213 | 58% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 46 | 63% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 32 | 53% violent |
| Car parks | 23 | 43% homes & vehicles |
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 Wick. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Wick’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 65 collisions with injuries inside Wick in five years. 22 people were killed or seriously injured: 6 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 Wick’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Wick’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Wick had 33.3 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).
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 Wick’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Wick
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wick | 13,231 | 37.6 | 14.2 | C− |
| Littlehampton | 19,060 | 49.9 | 19.9 | D |
| Arundel | 3,035 | 21.3 | 19.1 | C |
| Yapton | 6,337 | 31.9 | 19.4 | C− |
| Rustington | 33,885 | 17.3 | 8.9 | B+ |
| Walberton | 1,236 | 17 | 8.6 | B+ |
| Barnham | 10,139 | 28.7 | 15.2 | C |
| Bognor Regis | 68,443 | 33.6 | 16.3 | C− |
Wick records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Littlehampton records more. Arundel, 2.1 miles away, records 21.3 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Wick’s 37.6.
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 Wick 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 Wick
Is Wick safe?
Police recorded 37.6 violent and sexual offences and 14.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Wick’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 20% of UK towns. Among 397 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people, Wick is 281st from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Wick?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 23%, shoplifting and theft fell 29% 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 Wick?
Violence & sexual offences: 472 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (138) and public order (84), with 202 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Wick compare with Worthing?
Worthing records 34.1 violent and sexual offences and 12.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Wick’s 37.6 and 14.2, 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.