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Road closed Ossett town centrePhoto: Steve Fareham · CC BY-SA 2.0
CSafety Grade
Safety in Ossett · police.uk, 2023–2026

Ossett sees more violent crime per resident than three in four UK towns

For every 1,000 residents, 33.8 violent and sexual offences and 13.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were logged a year. Scored on crimes police recorded inside Ossett’s built-up area across September 2023 to August 2026, the town lands on C for safety: #42 of 91 in West Yorkshire. Violence recorded locally dropped 11% in a year. Still, among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, it records less crime per resident than 44%.

Violent crime
33.8
per 1,000 residents a year · graded
Homes & vehicles
13.6
burglary, vehicle crime, damage · graded
Shoplifting & theft
9.9
per 1,000 a year · not graded
Anti-social behaviour
9.5
reports per 1,000 a year · not graded

Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.

What stands out · In brief

What stands out about safety in Ossett

Violent crime fell over the year

In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 11% less violent crime per resident in Ossett 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 rose 18% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓

About the middle for a town its size

Of 281 UK towns of 15,000 to 30,000 people, Ossett has the 152nd lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Devizes, Newmarket and Nantwich, higher than Potters Bar, Consett and Wymondham. Towns its size ↓

Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.

Safety Grade

What’s behind Ossett’s grade

Compared with UK towns its sizeLess crime per resident than 44% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: about the middle for its size. Context only, not part of the grade.
Violent and sexual offences (33.8 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 24% of UK towns
Homes and vehicles (13.6 per 1,000 a year, 3-year average)Less crime than 25% of UK towns
C−C

A fairly firm grade. Built on 3,104 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Ossett against every UK town of 1,000 or more.

Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.

By type

What police recorded in the last 12 months

Violence & sexual offences30.1
Anti-social behaviour9.6
Public order5.4
Criminal damage & arson5.2
Other theft4.6
Vehicle crime4.3
Burglary4
Shoplifting3.3
Other crime2.7
Drugs1.1
Robbery0.5
Possession of weapons0.5
Bicycle theft0.3
Theft from the person0.3
Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Not gradedTypical town its size

Against the typical town its size, Ossett runs highest on burglary (4 per 1,000 against 2.4), vehicle crime (4.3 per 1,000 against 2.8) and other crime (2.7 per 1,000 against 1.8). Drugs and shoplifting sit below it.

Show as a table
CategoryIn the gradeReportsPer 1,000Typical
Violence & sexual offencesViolent65730.130.4
Anti-social behaviournot graded2099.612.4
Public ordernot graded1195.45.4
Criminal damage & arsonHome & vehicle1135.26.2
Other theftnot graded1014.64.4
Vehicle crimeHome & vehicle934.32.8
BurglaryHome & vehicle8742.4
Shopliftingnot graded733.36.1
Other crimenot graded582.71.8
Drugsnot graded251.11.9
RobberyViolent110.50.5
Possession of weaponsViolent100.50.7
Bicycle theftnot graded70.30.3
Theft from the personnot graded60.30.3

“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.

Trend · monthly

How crime in Ossett 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 +18% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -22% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +3% (towns its size -4%).

Neighbourhoods · England-wide rank

How Ossett’s neighbourhoods rank in England

0%1
14%2
11%3
34%4
0%5
34%6
7%7
0%8
0%9
0%10
Higher crimeLower crime

0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 14% 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.

Ossett’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.

1,000 residents · one year

Crime in Ossett per 1,000 residents

Violent (graded)Homes & vehicles (graded)Shoplifting & theft (not graded)
678
violent and sexual offences, 12 months to August 2026
293
homes & vehicles
187
shoplifting & theft
53
of the three, per 1,000

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 13 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 9 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.

What happened next

Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns

Violent crime
Ossett
All UK towns
Homes & vehicles
Ossett
All UK towns
Went to courtSuspect identified, unable to prosecuteNo suspect identifiedCaution, local resolution, otherStill open

No suspect was identified for 67% of Ossett’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” (67% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 4% 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. 1,118 crimes.

Towns its size

152nd of 281: Ossett among towns its size

#TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesShops & theftSafety
1Heswall Merseyside29,08214.35.53.8A−
…
61Garforth West Yorkshire15,1482310.97.9B−
…
148Mirfield West Yorkshire19,61433.313.810C
149Potters Bar Hertfordshire23,39430.916.321C
150Consett County Durham29,87433.813.414.3C
151Wymondham Norfolk16,33438.3910.1C
152Ossett West Yorkshire21,85433.813.69.9C
153Antrim Antrim and Newtownabbey25,60633.713.68.7C
154Guisborough North Yorkshire18,0913116.620.8C−
155Dereham Norfolk20,78837.310.516C−
…
178Bingley West Yorkshire21,3343714.610.1C−
…
183Baildon West Yorkshire17,05635.816.58.2C−
…
281Great Yarmouth Norfolk28,97910532.933.7D−

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 Ossett, and others in West Yorkshire.

Where in Ossett

Where in Ossett police recorded crime

Public places police.uk named crimes and ASB, 3 years
At or nearReportsMostly
Petrol stations11068% shoplifting & theft
Car parks6144% violent
Shopping areas5334% violent
Supermarkets3826% shoplifting & theft

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 Ossett. We show only these, never streets or homes.

Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.

On the roads

No one died in a collision on Ossett’s roads in 2021–2025

Police recorded 98 collisions with injuries inside Ossett in five years. 27 people were killed or seriously injured: 11 on foot and 3 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 Ossett’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Ossett’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.

Counting serious injuries too, Ossett had 25.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).

0
people killed, 2021–2025
27
killed or seriously injured
11
of them on foot
3
of them on a bicycle

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 Ossett’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Neighbours

Crime in the places around Ossett

ABCD
TownPeopleViolentHomes & vehiclesSafety
Ossett21,85433.813.6C
Horbury9,86847.315.3D
Dewsbury63,73063.422D−
Middlestown and Overton2,40927.19.1C+
Netherton (Wakefield)2,33118.57.3B+
Wakefield97,87169.222.9D−
Crigglestone and Durkar6,67231.410.6C
East Ardsley15,2383814.6C−

Ossett records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Middlestown and Overton, 2.4 miles away, records 27.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Ossett’s 33.8.

Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.

How to read these numbers

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 Ossett 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 Ossett

Is Ossett safe?

Police recorded 33.8 violent and sexual offences and 13.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Ossett’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 25% of UK towns. Among 281 UK towns of 15,000 to 30,000 people, Ossett is 152nd from the least crime.

Is crime going up in Ossett?

In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 11%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 18%, shoplifting and theft fell 22% 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 Ossett?

Violence & sexual offences: 657 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (119) and criminal damage & arson (113), with 209 reports of anti-social behaviour.

How does Ossett compare with Wakefield?

Wakefield records 69.2 violent and sexual offences and 22.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Ossett’s 33.8 and 13.6, 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.