Photo: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Dewsbury records more crime than 97% of UK towns
On the record of crimes police recorded inside Dewsbury’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026, it takes D− for safety: #77 of 91 in West Yorkshire. What’s more, for its size, it sits below 8% of the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more on crime per resident. Violence recorded locally dropped 12% in a year. Annual rates stand at 63.4 violent and sexual offences and 22.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Dewsbury
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 12% less violent crime per resident in Dewsbury than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
57% of Dewsbury’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 4% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The D− for Dewsbury, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 16,304 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Dewsbury against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
57% of Dewsbury residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
4% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 57% 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.
Dewsbury’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.
How Dewsbury compares with UK towns of 45,000 to 86,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metropolitan Castlereagh Lisburn and Castlereagh | 58,763 | 14.8 | 6.6 | 7.1 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 101 | Scunthorpe Lincolnshire | 81,286 | 58 | 24.6 | 26.4 | D− |
| 102 | Torquay Devon | 52,034 | 62.6 | 20.2 | 23.6 | D− |
| 103 | Canterbury Kent | 55,107 | 61.9 | 23.2 | 37.8 | D− |
| 104 | Dewsbury West Yorkshire | 63,730 | 63.4 | 22 | 15.7 | D− |
| 105 | Rotherham South Yorkshire | 71,535 | 61.7 | 25.5 | 25.7 | D− |
| 106 | Dudley West Midlands | 64,277 | 61.2 | 27 | 17.6 | D− |
| 107 | Castleford West Yorkshire | 45,363 | 61.7 | 27.1 | 30.3 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 110 | Keighley West Yorkshire | 48,754 | 70.7 | 24.3 | 24.3 | D− |
| … | ||||||
| 113 | Grimsby Lincolnshire | 85,915 | 69.6 | 32.4 | 29.1 | 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 Dewsbury, and others in West Yorkshire.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Dewsbury runs highest on other crime (4.7 per 1,000 against 2.1), drugs (6.3 per 1,000 against 3.8) and public order (11.7 per 1,000 against 7.4). Anti-social behaviour and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 3,537 | 55.5 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 803 | 12.6 | 17.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 745 | 11.7 | 7.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 605 | 9.5 | 7.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 501 | 7.9 | 6.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 446 | 7 | 10.3 |
| Drugs | not graded | 400 | 6.3 | 3.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 365 | 5.7 | 4.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 316 | 5 | 3.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 297 | 4.7 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 85 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Robbery | Violent | 85 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 42 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 23 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Crime in Dewsbury 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 20 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 16 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Dewsbury has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent -12% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles +0% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft +5% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour -7% (towns its size -2%).
Lowest recorded crime in Dewsbury South, Dewsbury West and Batley East; highest in Dewsbury East
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dewsbury South | 18,439 | 46.2 | 14.2 | |
| Dewsbury West | 21,699 | 62.2 | 20.7 | |
| Batley East | 1,598 | 65.5 | 28.6 | |
| Batley West | 3,028 | 73.1 | 21.9 | |
| Dewsbury East | 18,966 | 78 | 29.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 1,244 | 35% violent |
| Petrol stations | 423 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
| Hospitals | 383 | 60% violent |
| Shopping areas | 297 | 34% shoplifting & theft |
| Bus and coach stations | 252 | 38% violent |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 198 | 53% violent |
| Supermarkets | 176 | 41% shoplifting & theft |
| College and university buildings | 96 | 54% violent |
| Parks and open spaces | 64 | 34% anti-social behaviour |
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 Dewsbury. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Dewsbury’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 68% of Dewsbury’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 18% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (66% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 6% 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. 5,807 crimes.
Two people died in collisions on Dewsbury’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 489 collisions with injuries inside Dewsbury in five years, in which two people died (2 were pedestrians). 132 people were killed or seriously injured: 46 on foot and 10 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more: at their median rate (1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Dewsbury’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Dewsbury’s own rate (0.6) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Dewsbury had 41.3 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 35% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 Dewsbury’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Dewsbury
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dewsbury | 63,730 | 63.4 | 22 | D− |
| Ossett | 21,854 | 33.8 | 13.6 | C |
| Heckmondwike | 13,368 | 54.8 | 21.4 | D |
| Batley | 44,494 | 48.3 | 19.3 | D |
| Mirfield | 19,614 | 33.3 | 13.8 | C |
| Middlestown and Overton | 2,409 | 27.1 | 9.1 | C+ |
| Liversedge | 17,519 | 41.6 | 16.8 | D |
| Grange Moor | 1,118 | 17.6 | 6 | B+ |
Dewsbury records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Ossett, 2.3 miles away, records 33.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Dewsbury’s 63.4.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 383 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Dewsbury’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Dewsbury 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 Dewsbury
Is Dewsbury safe?
Police recorded 63.4 violent and sexual offences and 22 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Dewsbury’s built-up area). That earns a D− for safety: less crime per resident than 3% of UK towns. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Dewsbury has less crime per resident than 8%.
What are the safest areas of Dewsbury?
By council ward, Dewsbury South, Dewsbury West and Batley East record the least violent and household crime per resident: 46.2, 62.2 and 65.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 78 in Dewsbury East.
Is crime going up in Dewsbury?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 12%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 5% and anti-social behaviour fell 7%. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Dewsbury?
Violence & sexual offences: 3,537 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (745) and criminal damage & arson (605), with 803 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) · 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.