Crime and Safety in Dorchester, Dorset
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Dorchester is among the top 5 most dangerous small towns in Dorset, and is the 37th most dangerous overall out of Dorset's 250 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Dorchester in 2026 is 45 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to Dorset's overall crime rate, coming in 5% lower than the Dorset rate of 48 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Dorchester is the 386th safest small town, and the 2,884th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In November 2025, Dorchester had the worst crime rate in Dorset for shoplifting, with 31 crimes reported and a crime rate of 1.2 per 1,000 daytime population. February 2023 was also a bad month for Dorchester residents, when it was again Dorset's most dangerous area for shoplifting, recording 45 crimes at a rate of 1.7 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Dorchester are violence and sexual offences, with 528 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 20. This is 3.6% lower than 2025's figure of 548 offences and a difference of 0.69 from 2025's crime rate of 20. Dorchester's least common crime is theft from the person, with 4 offences recorded in 2026, a decrease of 43% from 2025's figure of 7 crimes.
Dorchester 2026 Crime Scorecard
Top 5 Most Dangerous
Small Towns, Dorset
26% lower, regional crime rate
South West
37% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Dorchester is 26% lower than the South West and 37% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Dorchester Crime Rate Over Time
| Dorchester | |
| South West | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Dorchester Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Dorchester 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 Dorchester Compares
You can compare Dorchester'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 Dorchester's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Dorchester up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Dorchester's 785 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 Dorchester? 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
Dorchester • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Dorchester has a crime risk score of 365. This is based on analysis of 785 nearby areas within Dorchester, 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 Dorchester's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Dorchester, crime risk scores are typically around 365, while in Dorset they are average 377.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 404 (392 for Dorset), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 427 (Dorset 390).
Trends in Crime Risk
Dorchester
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 2.7% in Dorchester'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 Dorchester's crime risk score is up by 7%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
The risk score trend over the last year has not shown any statistically meaningful movement up or down.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Dorchester
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
Dorchester • 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.
Shoplifting offences have a crime rate of 7.96 reports per 1,000 people in Dorchester, which is 1.12 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 214 crime reports logged by Dorset Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Dorset Police recorded 9 reports of Possession of Weapons in Dorchester, resulting in a crime rate of 0.33 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 0.79.
The crime rate for Violence and Sexual Offences is 0.65 times the national average at 20 reports per 1,000. This is from 528 crime reports reported to Dorset Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Dorchester
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.
Robbery offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.70 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 1.33 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 47% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, though the CrimeRate Index three years ago is too low to measure, and the trend should be reviewed with caution.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending upwards, though the CrimeRate Index three years ago is too low to measure, and the trend should be reviewed with caution.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Dorchester
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.29 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 0.27 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 7% over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.69 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.62 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 11% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.64 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.56 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 14% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Dorchester • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Dorchester | Dorset | South West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 420 | 15.62 | 1.11 | 14,095 | 16.23 | 1.15 | 82,030 | 12.62 | 0.89 |
| Bicycle Theft | 9 | 0.33 | 1.06 | 551 | 0.63 | 0.86 | 3,702 | 0.54 | 0.74 |
| Burglary | 37 | 1.36 | 0.43 | 2,032 | 2.34 | 0.75 | 15,750 | 2.42 | 0.77 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 104 | 3.86 | 0.61 | 3,993 | 4.60 | 0.73 | 36,459 | 5.64 | 0.90 |
| Drugs | 33 | 1.24 | 0.44 | 1,127 | 1.30 | 0.42 | 10,358 | 1.60 | 0.52 |
| Other Crime | 19 | 0.69 | 0.45 | 531 | 0.61 | 0.33 | 8,931 | 1.38 | 0.75 |
| Other Theft | 95 | 3.54 | 0.62 | 3,508 | 4.04 | 0.71 | 31,450 | 4.85 | 0.85 |
| Possession of Weapons | 9 | 0.33 | 0.79 | 331 | 0.38 | 0.45 | 3,967 | 0.62 | 0.73 |
| Public Order | 86 | 3.19 | 0.55 | 2,672 | 3.08 | 0.53 | 36,669 | 5.63 | 0.97 |
| Robbery | 13 | 0.48 | 0.62 | 403 | 0.46 | 0.39 | 4,567 | 0.70 | 0.59 |
| Shoplifting | 214 | 7.96 | 1.12 | 4,576 | 5.28 | 0.74 | 37,365 | 5.76 | 0.81 |
| Theft From the Person | 4 | 0.16 | 0.30 | 255 | 0.31 | 0.20 | 2,043 | 0.33 | 0.21 |
| Vehicle Crime | 67 | 2.49 | 0.58 | 2,837 | 3.26 | 0.76 | 16,666 | 2.56 | 0.60 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 528 | 19.65 | 0.65 | 18,680 | 21.48 | 0.71 | 189,257 | 29.13 | 0.96 |
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Total Crime by Year
Dorchester | Dorset | South West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 1,218 | 45.28 | 0.65 | 41,496 | 47.77 | 0.66 | 397,184 | 61.16 | 0.85 |
| 2025 | 1,392 | 52.25 | 0.73 | 46,124 | 53.54 | 0.72 | 402,192 | 62.40 | 0.84 |
| 2024 | 1,367 | 52.35 | 0.73 | 46,618 | 54.50 | 0.72 | 357,420 | 55.92 | 0.74 |
| 2023 | 1,271 | 49.72 | 0.66 | 47,122 | 55.37 | 0.70 | 360,086 | 56.89 | 0.72 |
| 2022 | 1,232 | 49.09 | 0.67 | 48,759 | 57.79 | 0.75 | 351,958 | 56.19 | 0.73 |
| 2021 | 1,168 | 46.86 | 0.72 | 45,886 | 54.68 | 0.80 | 311,592 | 50.21 | 0.73 |
| 2020 | 1,366 | 54.92 | 0.77 | 49,690 | 59.43 | 0.80 | 343,342 | 55.68 | 0.75 |
| 2019 | 1,547 | 62.37 | 0.84 | 52,052 | 62.33 | 0.82 | 348,574 | 56.87 | 0.75 |
| 2018 | 1,428 | 58.52 | 0.85 | 46,778 | 56.19 | 0.79 | 340,408 | 55.87 | 0.79 |
| 2017 | 1,204 | 50.52 | 0.83 | 42,348 | 51.17 | 0.80 | 312,784 | 51.72 | 0.81 |
| 2016 | 347 | 14.67 | 0.81 | 13,096 | 15.85 | 0.83 | 92,229 | 15.29 | 0.80 |
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Dorchester Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridport | 532 | 58.65 | 30% more dangerous |
| Portland | 727 | 50.77 | 12% more dangerous |
| Shaftesbury | 501 | 50.23 | 11% more dangerous |
| Dorchester | 1,218 | 45.28 | - |
| Sherborne | 445 | 37.00 | 18% safer |
| Blandford Forum | 436 | 39.06 | 14% safer |
| Lytchett Minster and Upton | 298 | 32.78 | 28% safer |
| Swanage | 311 | 32.90 | 27% safer |
| Ferndown Town | 626 | 30.90 | 32% safer |
| Gillingham | 383 | 29.26 | 35% safer |
| Verwood | 424 | 26.76 | 41% safer |
| Corfe Mullen | 253 | 23.53 | 48% safer |
| West Moors | 161 | 21.51 | 52% safer |
Comparing Dorchester to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Dorchester | 45.28 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 76% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 83% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 86% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 116% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 131% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 132% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 135% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 137% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 138% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 176% 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 Dorchester's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Dorchester 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centenary Field | 4 | - | 1 | - | - | 0 |
| Fordington Green | 6 | - | - | - | 9 | 8 |
| Salisbury Field | 13 | - | 3 | - | 16 | 8 |
| Great Field | 6 | - | - | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Colliton Park | 9 | 1 | 2 | - | 10 | 7 |
| Salisbury Field | 9 | - | 3 | - | 15 | 8 |
| Borough Gardens | 6 | 1 | 2 | - | 3 | 3 |
| Sandringham Sports Centre | 3 | - | - | - | 2 | 0 |
| Poundbury Cemetery | 3 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| Dorchester Sports Centre | 2 | - | - | - | 3 | 3 |
| Coade Square | - | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | 0 |
| Riverside Nature Reserve | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
Recent Crimes in Dorchester
The 20 most recent crime reports in Dorchester.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Alice Road | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near London Close | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Elizabeth Place | |
| April 2026 | Bicycle theft | On or near The Bow | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Durnover Court | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Plassey Close | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Ringhill Street | |
| April 2026 | Other crime | On or near Durnover Court | |
| April 2026 | Possession of weapons | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Margaret Place | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Margaret Place | |
| April 2026 | Robbery | On or near St John Way | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near The Bow | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Hamslade Court | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Margaret Place | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Halstock Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Syward Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Coningsby Place | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Minerva Close |
Methodology & Data Sources
Dorchester 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 Dorchester 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.
Dorchester Data Points
For Dorchester, 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 E04003533.
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 Dorchester's daytime - or "workday" - population of 26,874 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 Dorchester