Photo: Chris Heaton · CC BY-SA 2.0Oakenshaw records drugs at 10.1 times the rate of a typical town its size
It has less crime per resident than 5% of the UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, 1,541 in all. Oakenshaw’s police logs show 34.2 violent and sexual offences and 25.5 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year. Overall, it grades D for safety.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
The grade: D for Oakenshaw
A fairly firm grade. Built on 281 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Oakenshaw 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, Oakenshaw runs highest on drugs (6.4 per 1,000 against 0.6), vehicle crime (12.7 per 1,000 against 1.5) and anti-social behaviour (22.3 per 1,000 against 5.3).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 54 | 34.4 | 16.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 35 | 22.3 | 5.3 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 20 | 12.7 | 1.5 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 11 | 7 | 3.2 |
| Drugs | not graded | 10 | 6.4 | 0.6 |
| Other crime | not graded | 8 | 5.1 | 1.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 7 | 4.5 | 2.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 6 | 3.8 | 2.4 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 5 | 3.2 | 1.6 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 1 | 0.6 | 0 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.6 | 0 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.6 | 0 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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.
How Oakenshaw compares with UK towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clipsham Rutland | 1,150 | 0 | 0 | 0 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 84 | East Keswick West Yorkshire | 1,145 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 1.8 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 138 | Upperthong West Yorkshire | 1,094 | 10.7 | 3.4 | 0.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 174 | Bardsey West Yorkshire | 1,819 | 10.8 | 4 | 2.8 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 279 | Aberford West Yorkshire | 1,551 | 10.8 | 6.5 | 3 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 1151 | Troon Cornwall | 1,402 | 49.8 | 9.3 | 4.9 | D |
| 1152 | Alconbury Weald Cambridgeshire | 1,222 | 44.5 | 14.7 | 7.1 | D |
| 1153 | Robertsbridge East Sussex | 1,439 | 44.1 | 15.4 | 4.4 | D |
| 1154 | Oakenshaw West Yorkshire | 1,571 | 34.2 | 25.5 | 5.7 | D |
| 1155 | Trinant Gwent | 1,504 | 46.1 | 13.7 | 2.4 | D |
| 1156 | Bournmoor County Durham | 1,991 | 31.8 | 28.3 | 5.9 | D |
| 1157 | Harpur Hill Derbyshire | 1,121 | 46.4 | 14 | 5.7 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 1214 | Ingoldmells Lincolnshire | 1,928 | 259 | 64.7 | 57.2 | 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 Oakenshaw, and others in West Yorkshire.
Crime in Oakenshaw 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 23 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 6 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 Oakenshaw’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 10% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 12% of violent and 10% 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. 101 crimes.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“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). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +2% (towns its size +3%), homes and vehicles +3% (towns its size +0%), anti-social behaviour +59% (towns its size -1%).
No one died in a collision on Oakenshaw’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 6 collisions with injuries inside Oakenshaw in five years. 0 people were killed or seriously injured.
Most UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people (94%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Oakenshaw is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Oakenshaw’s size at the median for UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people would see about 1 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Oakenshaw had 0.
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 Oakenshaw’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Oakenshaw
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakenshaw | 1,571 | 34.2 | 25.5 | D |
| Scholes (near Cleckheaton) | 2,896 | 42 | 14.7 | C− |
| Cleckheaton | 11,607 | 58.3 | 27.6 | D− |
| Gomersal and Birkenshaw | 13,948 | 26 | 17.2 | C |
| Liversedge | 17,519 | 41.6 | 16.8 | D |
| Shelf and Northowram | 9,191 | 21.4 | 15.3 | C+ |
| Bradford | 333,968 | 72.2 | 28.3 | D− |
| Drighlington | 5,280 | 35.2 | 17.6 | C− |
Oakenshaw records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Cleckheaton and Bradford record more. Scholes (near Cleckheaton), 1.4 miles away, records 42 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Oakenshaw’s 34.2.
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 Oakenshaw 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 Oakenshaw
Is Oakenshaw safe?
Police recorded 34.2 violent and sexual offences and 25.5 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Oakenshaw’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 12% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, Oakenshaw has less crime per resident than 5%.
Is crime going up in Oakenshaw?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 50% and anti-social behaviour rose 59%. Across UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Oakenshaw?
Violence & sexual offences: 54 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came vehicle crime (20) and criminal damage & arson (11), with 35 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Oakenshaw compare with Bradford?
Bradford records 72.2 violent and sexual offences and 28.3 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Oakenshaw’s 34.2 and 25.5, 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.