Bedfordshire Police Statistics

Last updated: 07 Jun 2026

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The crime rate in Bedfordshire Police's force coverage area is 60 crimes per 1,000 people, for the 12-month period ending April 2026. The most commonly-reported crimes are violence and sexual offences, reported at a rate of roughly 25 reports per 1,000 daytime population.

Comparing the larger towns and cities under Bedfordshire Police's command using their respective Crime Risk Score - which considers the typical sentence length that convicted offenders receive for each type of crime when adding up the totals - the location with the highest score is Luton. The second most dangerous is Bedford.

Bedfordshire Police Crime Map

Incidents mapped in Bedfordshire Police's service area represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.

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Hover over a point to see a breakdown of crime types recorded at that location. You can also filter by individual crime types, or use a combinations of offences to visualise the data you need.

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Introduction to Bedfordshire Police's crime statistics

 

This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Bedfordshire Police up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Bedfordshire Police's 22,003 postcodes using three area sizes for comparison:

  • Within a Five-Minute Walk
  • Within a Ten-Minute Walk
  • Within a Fifteen-Minute Walk

Individual crime risk scores and index figures are for the 12-month period ending April 2026 unless otherwise stated.

Overview map crime around Bedfordshire Police

Crime Risk Scores

Bedfordshire Police • 12 Months Ending April 2026

 

The typical five-minute walk within Bedfordshire Police has a crime risk score of 406. This is based on analysis of 22,003 nearby areas within Bedfordshire Police, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.

Five Mins
406 crime risk score
Ten Mins
405 crime risk score
Fifteen Mins
404 crime risk score

Crime risk scores are on a scale of 1 to 1,000 and consider the severity of the crimes involved, as determined by sentencing guidelines. A score of 1 represents the lowest risk, and 1,000 the highest risk. This approach ensures that - unlike overall crime rate figures - bicycle theft is not given the same importance in Bedfordshire Police's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.

Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Bedfordshire Police, crime risk scores are typically around 406, while in National they are average 500.

Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 405 (500 for National), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 404 (National 500).

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Trends in Crime Risk

Bedfordshire Police

 

Calculated via Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess, the Seasonality Adjusted line represents the original data with seasonality subtracted, and the Trend line has been plotted unadjusted. Overall trend direction has been identified using the Mann-Kendall trend test, and rate calculated from the slope of the best-fit line identified from linear regression.

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The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 1.5% in Bedfordshire Police's crime risk score. This is potentially a strong signal of how the crime risk is evolving. Cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.

Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Bedfordshire Police's crime risk score is up by 5%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.

Over the last year, Bedfordshire Police's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 1.3%, indicating that the risk profile is going up. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.

Crime Rates and Indexes

Bedfordshire Police

 

The CrimeRate Index shows how crime rates compare against the national average.

1.0 equals the average
2.0 is double
3.0 triple
0.5 is half and
0.25 a quarter.

Highest Crime Rates

Bedfordshire Police • 12 Months Ending April 2026

 

Excluding other crime and other theft because their geographic location is often not relevant, anti-social behaviour as its definition is too wide, and bicycle theft for its specificity.

Vehicle Crime
1.21 CrimeRate Index
Drugs
1.00 CrimeRate Index
Possession of Weapons
0.95 CrimeRate Index

Vehicle Crime offences have a crime rate of 5.21 reports per 1,000 people in Bedfordshire Police, which is 1.21 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 4,309 crime reports logged by Bedfordshire Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.

For the same period, Bedfordshire Police recorded 2,550 reports of Drugs in Bedfordshire Police, resulting in a crime rate of 3.09 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.00.

The crime rate for Possession of Weapons is 0.95 times the national average at 0.81 reports per 1,000. This is from 676 crime reports reported to Bedfordshire Police.

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Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types

Bedfordshire Police

 

Excluding other crime and other theft, anti-social behaviour, and bicycle theft, and calculated with the same STL method described in Trends in Crime Risk, using CrimeRate Index figures to identify crime types that are trending above or below the national average, and the analysis timeframe limited to the last three years.

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Violence and Sexual Offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.86 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.75 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 15% over this timeframe.

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Robbery offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.90 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 0.67 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 34% over this timeframe.

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Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.78 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.75 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 4.0% over this timeframe.

Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types

Bedfordshire Police

 

Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.

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Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.67 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 0.67 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 0% over this timeframe.

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Public Order offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.81 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.83 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 2.4% over this timeframe.

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Theft From the Person offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.25 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 0.38 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 34% over this timeframe.

Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map

Bedfordshire Police • 12 Months Ending April 2026

 

Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.

 
Bedfordshire Police
National
Crime TypeCountRateIndexCountRateIndex
Anti-Social Behaviour9,75011.810.84941,22414.131.00
Bicycle Theft5100.620.8548,4490.731.00
Burglary1,9202.320.74208,6123.131.00
Criminal Damage and Arson4,1305.010.80418,6516.281.00
Drugs2,5503.091.00205,2143.091.00
Other Crime1,4071.700.92124,2301.851.00
Other Theft3,7454.520.79378,1465.691.00
Possession of Weapons6760.810.9556,6200.851.00
Public Order3,9414.780.82386,2975.801.00
Robbery7780.950.8178,3861.181.00
Shoplifting4,4835.430.76475,0257.131.00
Theft From the Person4020.480.31103,5051.551.00
Vehicle Crime4,3095.211.21287,0684.301.00
Violence and Sexual Offences20,92625.310.832,024,72230.401.00
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Total Crime by Year

 
Bedfordshire Police
National
YearCountRateIndexCountRateIndex
202649,77760.230.844,794,92571.981.00
202550,71762.380.844,892,73474.031.00
202448,47060.850.814,937,62075.431.00
202348,24961.930.785,115,76379.011.00
202245,41459.150.774,922,64576.811.00
202145,51860.200.884,369,81168.571.00
202052,94470.920.964,707,68374.161.00
201957,25677.351.014,824,37076.251.00
201845,07361.360.864,484,15171.121.00
201742,56558.260.914,011,47063.941.00
201613,58018.650.981,195,22119.071.00
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Bedfordshire Police: Major Towns & Cities Compared

Town / CityCrime CountCrime RateCrimeRate Index
Bedford9,04491.191.27
Kempston1,84976.561.10
Luton19,39474.461.03
Dunstable2,71559.900.83
Houghton Regis1,66058.180.84
Brickhill58853.630.80
Sandy69353.000.79
Leighton-Linslade2,42352.130.74
Biggleswade1,16648.020.69
Stotfold37236.090.59
Flitwick49734.790.54
Ampthill29329.070.52
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Bedfordshire Police Stations

Police Station NamePolice Station AddressDescription & Opening Hours
Bedfordshire Police Headquarters
Woburn Road, Kempston, Bedfordshire, MK43 9AX

Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm Saturday & Sunday closed Bank holidays closed

Luton Police Station
Buxton Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 1SD

Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday closed Bank holidays closed