Crime and Safety in Bournemouth
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Bournemouth is the most dangerous city in Dorset, and is among the top 20 most dangerous overall out of Dorset's 250 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Bournemouth in 2026 is 61 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to Dorset's overall crime rate, coming in 27% higher than the Dorset rate of 48 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Bournemouth is among the top 20 safest cities, and the 1,495th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In February 2025, Bournemouth had the worst crime rate in Dorset for theft from the person, with 14 crimes reported and a crime rate of 0.04 per 1,000 daytime population. January 2023 was also a bad month for Bournemouth residents, when it was again Dorset's most dangerous area for theft from the person, recording 23 crimes at a rate of 0.06 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Bournemouth are violence and sexual offences, with 10,102 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 26. This is 1.2% lower than 2025's figure of 10,223 offences and a difference of 0.32 from 2025's crime rate of 26. Bournemouth's least common crime is theft from the person, with 182 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 2.2% from 2025's figure of 178 crimes.
Bournemouth 2026 Crime Scorecard
Most Dangerous
Cities, Dorset
0.70% lower, regional crime rate
South West
16% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Bournemouth is 0.70% lower than the South West and 16% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Bournemouth Crime Rate Over Time
| Bournemouth | |
| South West | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Bournemouth Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Bournemouth represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.
Use Crime Map
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.
See How Bournemouth Compares
You can compare Bournemouth's crime statistics against any other town, village, or city from across the country. Search for a location's name below to see how they stack up.
Introduction to Bournemouth's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Bournemouth up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Bournemouth's 8,070 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.
CrimeRate Insights
Looking into a specific address in Bournemouth? CrimeRate Insights reports convert raw numbers into practical insight for any location, from single addresses and postcodes, up to major towns and cities.
Crime rates don’t happen by themselves; they follow people and patterns. Where crowds gather - near pubs and late-night venues, around the station, by supermarkets and forecourts - incidents naturally concentrate.
That doesn’t mean an area is "bad"; it usually means footfall is higher.
Your report explores these factors in a calm, non-judgemental way, putting the numbers in context and helping you spot what’s typical for places like this.
Crime Risk Scores
Bournemouth • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Bournemouth has a crime risk score of 406. This is based on analysis of 8,070 nearby areas within Bournemouth, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.
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 Bournemouth's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Bournemouth, crime risk scores are typically around 406, while in Dorset they are average 377.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 483 (392 for Dorset), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 527 (Dorset 390).
Trends in Crime Risk
Bournemouth
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.
The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 13% in Bournemouth'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 Bournemouth's crime risk score is down by 13%. 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, Bournemouth's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 2.2%, 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
Bournemouth
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
Bournemouth • 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 offences have a crime rate of 5.07 reports per 1,000 people in Bournemouth, which is 1.18 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 2,006 crime reports logged by Dorset Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Dorset Police recorded 3,019 reports of Shoplifting in Bournemouth, resulting in a crime rate of 7.62 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.07.
The crime rate for Burglary is 0.91 times the national average at 2.84 reports per 1,000. This is from 1,121 crime reports reported to Dorset Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Bournemouth
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.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.70 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 0.38 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 84% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Bournemouth
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.85 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.91 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 7% over this timeframe.
Theft From the Person offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.17 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 0.46 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 63% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.92 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 0.90 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 2.2% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Bournemouth • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Bournemouth | Dorset | South West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 8,117 | 20.51 | 1.45 | 14,095 | 16.23 | 1.15 | 82,030 | 12.62 | 0.89 |
| Bicycle Theft | 431 | 1.08 | 1.48 | 551 | 0.63 | 0.86 | 3,702 | 0.54 | 0.74 |
| Burglary | 1,121 | 2.84 | 0.91 | 2,032 | 2.34 | 0.75 | 15,750 | 2.42 | 0.77 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 2,190 | 5.52 | 0.88 | 3,993 | 4.60 | 0.73 | 36,459 | 5.64 | 0.90 |
| Drugs | 761 | 1.92 | 0.62 | 1,127 | 1.30 | 0.42 | 10,358 | 1.60 | 0.52 |
| Other Crime | 252 | 0.65 | 0.35 | 531 | 0.61 | 0.33 | 8,931 | 1.38 | 0.75 |
| Other Theft | 1,987 | 5.03 | 0.88 | 3,508 | 4.04 | 0.71 | 31,450 | 4.85 | 0.85 |
| Possession of Weapons | 185 | 0.47 | 0.55 | 331 | 0.38 | 0.45 | 3,967 | 0.62 | 0.73 |
| Public Order | 1,503 | 3.79 | 0.65 | 2,672 | 3.08 | 0.53 | 36,669 | 5.63 | 0.97 |
| Robbery | 291 | 0.73 | 0.62 | 403 | 0.46 | 0.39 | 4,567 | 0.70 | 0.59 |
| Shoplifting | 3,019 | 7.62 | 1.07 | 4,576 | 5.28 | 0.74 | 37,365 | 5.76 | 0.81 |
| Theft From the Person | 182 | 0.48 | 0.31 | 255 | 0.31 | 0.20 | 2,043 | 0.33 | 0.21 |
| Vehicle Crime | 2,006 | 5.07 | 1.18 | 2,837 | 3.26 | 0.76 | 16,666 | 2.56 | 0.60 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 10,102 | 25.53 | 0.84 | 18,680 | 21.48 | 0.71 | 189,257 | 29.13 | 0.96 |
Download | |||||||||
Total Crime by Year
Bournemouth | Dorset | South West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 24,030 | 60.73 | 0.84 | 41,496 | 47.77 | 0.66 | 397,184 | 61.16 | 0.85 |
| 2025 | 26,300 | 66.77 | 0.90 | 46,124 | 53.54 | 0.72 | 402,192 | 62.40 | 0.84 |
| 2024 | 27,195 | 68.90 | 0.91 | 46,618 | 54.50 | 0.72 | 357,420 | 55.92 | 0.74 |
| 2023 | 27,650 | 70.39 | 0.89 | 47,122 | 55.37 | 0.70 | 360,086 | 56.89 | 0.72 |
| 2022 | 28,616 | 73.39 | 0.96 | 48,759 | 57.79 | 0.75 | 351,958 | 56.19 | 0.73 |
| 2021 | 27,011 | 69.53 | 1.01 | 45,886 | 54.68 | 0.80 | 311,592 | 50.21 | 0.73 |
| 2020 | 29,219 | 75.29 | 1.02 | 49,690 | 59.43 | 0.80 | 343,342 | 55.68 | 0.75 |
| 2019 | 29,988 | 77.21 | 1.01 | 52,052 | 62.33 | 0.82 | 348,574 | 56.87 | 0.75 |
| 2018 | 26,715 | 68.96 | 0.97 | 46,778 | 56.19 | 0.79 | 340,408 | 55.87 | 0.79 |
| 2017 | 24,514 | 63.49 | 0.99 | 42,348 | 51.17 | 0.80 | 312,784 | 51.72 | 0.81 |
| 2016 | 7,496 | 19.46 | 1.02 | 13,096 | 15.85 | 0.83 | 92,229 | 15.29 | 0.80 |
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Comparing Bournemouth to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | 60.73 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 31% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 36% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 38% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 61% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 72% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 73% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 75% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 76% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 77% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 106% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
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You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Offences In and Around Bournemouth's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Bournemouth that are named and have had crimes recorded within their boundaries in the 12 months to Apr 2026.
| Name | ASB | Drugs | Public Order | Robbery | VSO | All Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunger Hill Green | 38 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 23 | 30 |
| Canford Cliffs Village Pocket Park | 2 | - | - | - | 3 | 2 |
| Ham Common | 11 | - | - | - | 23 | 27 |
| Swanmore Gardens | - | - | - | - | 1 | 3 |
| Roi-mar Home Park | 7 | 1 | - | - | 2 | 5 |
| Kinson Common | 17 | - | 4 | - | 16 | 11 |
| Turbary Common | 30 | 8 | 12 | - | 90 | 77 |
| Village Green | 16 | - | 3 | 3 | 10 | 38 |
| Churchill Gardens | 14 | 4 | 6 | - | 38 | 29 |
| Tucker's Field | 8 | - | 3 | - | 10 | 7 |
| Fishermans Walk | 29 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 22 | 27 |
| Canford Country Park | 8 | - | - | - | 2 | 2 |
| Creekmoor Ponds Nature Reserve | 21 | 3 | 6 | - | 27 | 22 |
| Hamworthy Park | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| Broadstone Cricket Ground | - | - | 1 | - | - | 0 |
| Broadstone Allotments | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| Ashdown Leisure Centre | 6 | - | - | - | 12 | 3 |
| Brook Road Allotments | 5 | 1 | 7 | - | 24 | 10 |
| Victoria Park Sports Ground | 3 | - | 1 | - | 5 | 2 |
| Muscliffe Park | 26 | - | 2 | 1 | 9 | 10 |
| Fampoux Gardens | 12 | 2 | - | 1 | 17 | 19 |
| Sir David English Sports Centre | 1 | - | 1 | - | 3 | 1 |
| Littledown Leisure Centre | 10 | 1 | 2 | - | 15 | 29 |
| Bushell Mill Allotments | 3 | - | 1 | - | 3 | 0 |
| Oakdale Community Park | 5 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| Green Park | 2 | 1 | - | - | 13 | 0 |
| Poole Park | 22 | 4 | 4 | - | 17 | 20 |
| Dolphin Swimming Pool | 15 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 21 |
| Whitecliff Harbourside Park | 31 | 1 | 5 | - | 15 | 15 |
| Branksome Cemetery | 5 | 1 | - | - | 4 | 4 |
| Rossmore Leisure Centre | 12 | - | - | 1 | 24 | 14 |
| Alder Farm Allotments | 35 | 1 | - | 1 | 22 | 121 |
| Parkstone Cemetery | - | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Blake Dean Allotments | 1 | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Princess Gardens | 7 | - | 1 | - | 5 | 3 |
| Dean Park Cricket Ground | 20 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 16 |
| Winter Gardens | 4 | - | 1 | - | 2 | 8 |
| Boscombe Chine Gardens | 77 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 59 | 55 |
| Boscombe Cliff Gardens | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | 2 |
| Lingdale Road Allotments | 4 | - | - | - | 2 | 6 |
| Merrivale Allotments | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Kinson Cemetery | 3 | - | 3 | - | 12 | 7 |
| North Bournemouth Allotments | 1 | 1 | - | - | 5 | 2 |
| Redhill Park | 64 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 32 | 71 |
| North Cemetery | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 7 |
| Ashley Cross Green | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Alexandra Park | 11 | 3 | 2 | - | 12 | 8 |
| Pinecliff Gardens | 12 | - | 2 | - | 5 | 9 |
| Coy Pond Gardens | 2 | - | 2 | - | 4 | 5 |
| Upper Gardens | 3 | 1 | 3 | - | 15 | 14 |
| Central Gardens | 191 | 13 | 19 | 6 | 105 | 280 |
| Lower Gardens | 303 | 60 | 41 | 9 | 241 | 188 |
| King's Park | 20 | - | 5 | - | 16 | 12 |
| East Cemetery | 8 | - | 1 | - | 6 | 7 |
| Knyveton Gardens | 36 | - | 6 | - | 42 | 46 |
| Carnarvon Crescent Gardens | 25 | 7 | 3 | - | 27 | 32 |
| Shelley Park | 5 | - | 2 | - | 1 | 5 |
| Branksome Chine Gardens | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 3 |
| Upton Country Park | 7 | - | 1 | - | 11 | 7 |
| The Rookery | 1 | - | 2 | - | 13 | 5 |
| The Old Burial Ground | 15 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 29 |
| Evening Hill | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | 3 |
| Pelhams Park | 13 | - | 1 | - | 11 | 11 |
| Cyril Park | 9 | 1 | - | 1 | 26 | 12 |
| Horseshoe Common | 26 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 27 | 21 |
| Stanley Green Park | 3 | - | 1 | - | 3 | 0 |
| Seafield Gardens | 3 | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Turners Nursery | 4 | - | 1 | - | 3 | 3 |
Recent Crimes in Bournemouth
The 20 most recent crime reports in Bournemouth.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Chester Road | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Manor Road | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Manor Road | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Theatre/Concert Hall | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Shopping Area | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Shopping Area | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Shopping Area | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Shopping Area | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Eldon Place | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Shopping Area | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Shopping Area | |
| April 2026 | Theft from the person | On or near Shopping Area | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Shopping Area | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Shopping Area |
Methodology & Data Sources
Bournemouth Crime Report
Data Sources & Processing
Every month, CrimeRate processes crime reports from data.police.uk, the UK's official provider of open crime report data. Each crime report includes anonymised coordinates, most often "snapped" to the middle of the nearest street, or to the nearest major landmark. The reports also include the month and year the crime was reported, as well as the type of crime.
Data releases on data.police.uk happen once a month, with a two-month delay. This means that, for example, crimes reported in Bournemouth during August 2026 will typically become available in October 2026. The latest release is for Apr 2026 and was released in Jun 2026. To provide current and historical crime statistics, CrimeRate processed 61,669,232 crime reports for the latest release.
Bournemouth Data Points
For Bournemouth, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Office for National Statistics in the December 2023 release of their Parishes and Non Civil Parished Areas dataset, using the PARNCP23CD column value E43000261.
Due to the 2021 Census being conducted during a UK-wide Coronavirus lockdown, the daytime population figures released so far cannot be relied on for purposes such as comparing crime rates. Instead, CrimeRate uses Bournemouth's daytime - or "workday" - population of 329,919 from the ONS 2011 Census for calculations throughout the site.
All geographic boundaries use the full resolution - extent of the realm versions where provided to avoid missing crime reports near coastlines and rivers - the banks of the Thames in particular - that would otherwise not be included when using the clipped to the coastline datasets.
Calculating Crime Rates
CrimeRate locates the UK region, county, and town/city/village locality for each crime report, and calculates the crime rate by taking the sum of all crime reports, dividing it by the locality's daytime / "workday" population, and multiplying the result by 1,000 to get the crime rate per 1,000.
Crime Risk Score Calculations
CrimeRate calculates crime counts for local, nearby, and wider areas for every postcode in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The postcodes locations are deduplicated by a process that ensures distinct points are approximately 50 metres apart. This process removes the bias that would otherwise come from counting the same crimes several times in heavily populated areas.
Using a custom algorithm developed in-house, CrimeRate applies a crime severity weighting to each area's crime counts, based on the type of crime reported. This increases or decreases the crime count, or zeroes it out entirely, depending on the crime type. A separate crime severity rate is then calculated, standardised, and scaled to fit the crime risk score range of 1 to 1,000, with 1 being the lowest score, and 1,000 the highest.
Crime risk scores undergo further analysis per town, city, and village plus other areas including police forces and neighbourhoods. CrimeRate uses percentiles to work out the most common range of crime risk scores in each locality. This includes identifying the high and low bounds where approximately 68% of scores fall, and finding the median (50th percentile) for easy reference.
The crime types with a weight of zero are: Anti-Social Behaviour; Bicycle Theft; Other Crime; Other Theft; and Shoplifting. The highest weights to are assigned to Violence & Sexual Offences, and the lowest to Vehicle Crime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Bournemouth