Crime and Safety in Gillingham, Dorset
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Gillingham is the second safest small town in Dorset, and is the 87th most dangerous overall out of Dorset's 250 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Gillingham in 2026 is 29 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to Dorset's overall crime rate, coming in 39% lower than the Dorset rate of 48 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Gillingham is the 87th safest small town, and the 4,086th safest location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In January 2023, Gillingham had the worst crime rate in Dorset for shoplifting, with 20 crimes reported and a crime rate of 1.6 per 1,000 daytime population. May 2023 was also a bad month for Gillingham residents, when it was Dorset's most dangerous area for robbery, recording 2 crimes at a rate of 0.16 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Gillingham are violence and sexual offences, with 180 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 14. This is 10% lower than 2025's figure of 200 offences and a difference of 1.53 from 2025's crime rate of 15. Gillingham's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 1 offence recorded in 2026, the same as 2025's figure of 1 crime.
Gillingham 2026 Crime Scorecard
Second Safest
Small Towns, Dorset
52% lower, regional crime rate
South West
59% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Gillingham is 52% lower than the South West and 59% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Gillingham Crime Rate Over Time
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| South West | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Gillingham Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Gillingham 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 Gillingham Compares
You can compare Gillingham'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 Gillingham's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Gillingham up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Gillingham's 383 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 Gillingham? 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
Gillingham • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Gillingham has a crime risk score of 286. This is based on analysis of 383 nearby areas within Gillingham, 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 Gillingham's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Gillingham, crime risk scores are typically around 286, while in Dorset they are average 377.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 294 (392 for Dorset), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 290 (Dorset 390).
Trends in Crime Risk
Gillingham
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.
No trend could be found in Gillingham's crime risk scores over the last 10 years, and the trend may well be static.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Gillingham's crime risk score is down by 38%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Over the last year, Gillingham's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 21%, indicating that the risk profile is going down. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Gillingham
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
Gillingham • 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.
Possession of Weapons offences have a crime rate of 0.31 reports per 1,000 people in Gillingham, which is 1.48 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 4 crime reports logged by Dorset Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Dorset Police recorded 32 reports of Burglary in Gillingham, resulting in a crime rate of 2.43 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 0.85.
The crime rate for Robbery is 0.80 times the national average at 0.16 reports per 1,000. This is from 2 crime reports reported to Dorset Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Gillingham
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.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.66 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 0.18 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 267% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.96 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 1.10 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 13% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Gillingham
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.47 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.65 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 28% over this timeframe.
Shoplifting offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.12 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.16 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 25% over this timeframe.
Public Order offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.17 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.38 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 55% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Gillingham • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Gillingham | Dorset | South West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 100 | 7.63 | 0.54 | 14,095 | 16.23 | 1.15 | 82,030 | 12.62 | 0.89 |
| Bicycle Theft | 1 | 0.08 | 1.60 | 551 | 0.63 | 0.86 | 3,702 | 0.54 | 0.74 |
| Burglary | 32 | 2.43 | 0.85 | 2,032 | 2.34 | 0.75 | 15,750 | 2.42 | 0.77 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 39 | 2.97 | 0.51 | 3,993 | 4.60 | 0.73 | 36,459 | 5.64 | 0.90 |
| Drugs | 4 | 0.32 | 0.32 | 1,127 | 1.30 | 0.42 | 10,358 | 1.60 | 0.52 |
| Other Crime | 7 | 0.55 | 0.60 | 531 | 0.61 | 0.33 | 8,931 | 1.38 | 0.75 |
| Other Theft | 44 | 3.37 | 0.59 | 3,508 | 4.04 | 0.71 | 31,450 | 4.85 | 0.85 |
| Possession of Weapons | 4 | 0.31 | 1.48 | 331 | 0.38 | 0.45 | 3,967 | 0.62 | 0.73 |
| Public Order | 25 | 1.92 | 0.36 | 2,672 | 3.08 | 0.53 | 36,669 | 5.63 | 0.97 |
| Robbery | 2 | 0.16 | 0.80 | 403 | 0.46 | 0.39 | 4,567 | 0.70 | 0.59 |
| Shoplifting | 21 | 1.60 | 0.33 | 4,576 | 5.28 | 0.74 | 37,365 | 5.76 | 0.81 |
| Theft From the Person | 1 | 0.08 | 0.67 | 255 | 0.31 | 0.20 | 2,043 | 0.33 | 0.21 |
| Vehicle Crime | 23 | 1.75 | 0.55 | 2,837 | 3.26 | 0.76 | 16,666 | 2.56 | 0.60 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 180 | 13.72 | 0.45 | 18,680 | 21.48 | 0.71 | 189,257 | 29.13 | 0.96 |
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Total Crime by Year
Gillingham | Dorset | South West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 383 | 29.26 | 0.48 | 41,496 | 47.77 | 0.66 | 397,184 | 61.16 | 0.85 |
| 2025 | 442 | 34.95 | 0.59 | 46,124 | 53.54 | 0.72 | 402,192 | 62.40 | 0.84 |
| 2024 | 489 | 39.56 | 0.59 | 46,618 | 54.50 | 0.72 | 357,420 | 55.92 | 0.74 |
| 2023 | 588 | 48.34 | 0.68 | 47,122 | 55.37 | 0.70 | 360,086 | 56.89 | 0.72 |
| 2022 | 551 | 46.11 | 0.67 | 48,759 | 57.79 | 0.75 | 351,958 | 56.19 | 0.73 |
| 2021 | 489 | 40.90 | 0.66 | 45,886 | 54.68 | 0.80 | 311,592 | 50.21 | 0.73 |
| 2020 | 587 | 48.86 | 0.72 | 49,690 | 59.43 | 0.80 | 343,342 | 55.68 | 0.75 |
| 2019 | 680 | 56.33 | 0.81 | 52,052 | 62.33 | 0.82 | 348,574 | 56.87 | 0.75 |
| 2018 | 468 | 38.43 | 0.61 | 46,778 | 56.19 | 0.79 | 340,408 | 55.87 | 0.79 |
| 2017 | 409 | 33.69 | 0.59 | 42,348 | 51.17 | 0.80 | 312,784 | 51.72 | 0.81 |
| 2016 | 151 | 12.54 | 0.74 | 13,096 | 15.85 | 0.83 | 92,229 | 15.29 | 0.80 |
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Gillingham Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridport | 532 | 58.65 | 100% more dangerous |
| Portland | 727 | 50.77 | 74% more dangerous |
| Shaftesbury | 501 | 50.23 | 72% more dangerous |
| Dorchester | 1,218 | 45.28 | 55% more dangerous |
| Sherborne | 445 | 37.00 | 26% more dangerous |
| Blandford Forum | 436 | 39.06 | 33% more dangerous |
| Lytchett Minster and Upton | 298 | 32.78 | 12% more dangerous |
| Swanage | 311 | 32.90 | 12% more dangerous |
| Ferndown Town | 626 | 30.90 | 6% more dangerous |
| Gillingham | 383 | 29.26 | - |
| Verwood | 424 | 26.76 | 9% safer |
| Corfe Mullen | 253 | 23.53 | 20% safer |
| West Moors | 161 | 21.51 | 26% safer |
Comparing Gillingham to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Gillingham | 29.26 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 172% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 183% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 187% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 234% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 258% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 259% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 264% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 266% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 268% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 327% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
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Offences In and Around Gillingham's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Gillingham 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riversmeet Leisure Centre | 4 | - | 1 | - | 8 | 4 |
Recent Crimes in Gillingham
The 20 most recent crime reports in Gillingham.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Harding'S Lane | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Lockwood Terrace | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Harding'S Lane | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near High Street | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Newbury | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Budmouth Drive | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Stour Meadows | |
| April 2026 | Burglary | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near South Street | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Abbott'S Way | |
| April 2026 | Drugs | On or near Orchard Road | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Hine Close | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near The Laurels | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near Common Mead Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Bay Fields | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Newbury | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near St Mary'S Place | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Lodbourne Gardens | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Woodsage Drive |
Methodology & Data Sources
Gillingham 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 Gillingham during July 2026 will typically become available in September 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.
Gillingham Data Points
For Gillingham, 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 E04003409.
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 Gillingham's daytime - or "workday" - population of 10,642 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 Gillingham