Crime and Safety in Swanage
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Swanage is the third safest small town in Dorset, and is the 85th most dangerous overall out of Dorset's 250 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Swanage in 2026 is 33 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to Dorset's overall crime rate, coming in 31% lower than the Dorset rate of 48 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Swanage is the 89th safest small town, and the 4,155th safest location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In February 2024, Swanage had the worst crime rate in Dorset for theft from the person, with 1 crime reported and a crime rate of 0.11 per 1,000 daytime population. October 2024 was also a bad month for Swanage residents, when it was Dorset's most dangerous area for robbery, recording 1 crime at a rate of 0.11 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Swanage are violence and sexual offences, with 161 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 17. This is 8% lower than 2025's figure of 175 offences and a difference of 1.48 from 2025's crime rate of 18. Swanage's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 1 offence recorded in 2026, a decrease of 50% from 2025's figure of 2 crimes.
Swanage 2026 Crime Scorecard
Third Safest
Small Towns, Dorset
46% lower, regional crime rate
South West
54% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Swanage is 46% lower than the South West and 54% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Swanage Crime Rate Over Time
| Swanage | |
| South West | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Swanage Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Swanage 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 Swanage Compares
You can compare Swanage'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 Swanage's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Swanage up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Swanage's 438 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 Swanage? 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
Swanage • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Swanage has a crime risk score of 407. This is based on analysis of 438 nearby areas within Swanage, 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 Swanage's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Swanage, crime risk scores are typically around 407, while in Dorset they are average 377.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 473 (392 for Dorset), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 516 (Dorset 390).
Trends in Crime Risk
Swanage
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 36% in Swanage'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 Swanage's crime risk score is down by 21%. 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, Swanage's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 9%, 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
Swanage
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
Swanage • 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 0.11 reports per 1,000 people in Swanage, which is 1.57 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 1 crime report logged by Dorset Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Dorset Police recorded 3 reports of Theft From the Person in Swanage, resulting in a crime rate of 0.32 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.14.
The crime rate for Robbery is 1.10 times the national average at 0.11 reports per 1,000. This is from 1 crime report reported to Dorset Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Swanage
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.
No significant increases identified.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Swanage
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.69 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 1.00 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 31% over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.59 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 1.68 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 65% over this timeframe.
Shoplifting offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of - for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 1.06 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a near-complete decrease over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Swanage • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Swanage | Dorset | South West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 81 | 8.53 | 0.60 | 14,095 | 16.23 | 1.15 | 82,030 | 12.62 | 0.89 |
| Bicycle Theft | 2 | 0.22 | 1.57 | 551 | 0.63 | 0.86 | 3,702 | 0.54 | 0.74 |
| Burglary | 11 | 1.18 | 0.89 | 2,032 | 2.34 | 0.75 | 15,750 | 2.42 | 0.77 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 34 | 3.61 | 0.62 | 3,993 | 4.60 | 0.73 | 36,459 | 5.64 | 0.90 |
| Drugs | 6 | 0.64 | 0.82 | 1,127 | 1.30 | 0.42 | 10,358 | 1.60 | 0.52 |
| Other Crime | 7 | 0.76 | 0.84 | 531 | 0.61 | 0.33 | 8,931 | 1.38 | 0.75 |
| Other Theft | 21 | 2.24 | 0.48 | 3,508 | 4.04 | 0.71 | 31,450 | 4.85 | 0.85 |
| Possession of Weapons | 1 | 0.11 | 1.57 | 331 | 0.38 | 0.45 | 3,967 | 0.62 | 0.73 |
| Public Order | 18 | 1.92 | 0.43 | 2,672 | 3.08 | 0.53 | 36,669 | 5.63 | 0.97 |
| Robbery | 1 | 0.11 | 1.10 | 403 | 0.46 | 0.39 | 4,567 | 0.70 | 0.59 |
| Shoplifting | 37 | 3.90 | 0.83 | 4,576 | 5.28 | 0.74 | 37,365 | 5.76 | 0.81 |
| Theft From the Person | 3 | 0.32 | 1.14 | 255 | 0.31 | 0.20 | 2,043 | 0.33 | 0.21 |
| Vehicle Crime | 9 | 0.97 | 0.39 | 2,837 | 3.26 | 0.76 | 16,666 | 2.56 | 0.60 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 161 | 16.92 | 0.56 | 18,680 | 21.48 | 0.71 | 189,257 | 29.13 | 0.96 |
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Total Crime by Year
Swanage | Dorset | South West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 311 | 32.90 | 0.58 | 41,496 | 47.77 | 0.66 | 397,184 | 61.16 | 0.85 |
| 2025 | 380 | 40.24 | 0.64 | 46,124 | 53.54 | 0.72 | 402,192 | 62.40 | 0.84 |
| 2024 | 494 | 52.56 | 0.78 | 46,618 | 54.50 | 0.72 | 357,420 | 55.92 | 0.74 |
| 2023 | 452 | 48.06 | 0.71 | 47,122 | 55.37 | 0.70 | 360,086 | 56.89 | 0.72 |
| 2022 | 423 | 44.85 | 0.70 | 48,759 | 57.79 | 0.75 | 351,958 | 56.19 | 0.73 |
| 2021 | 396 | 41.54 | 0.72 | 45,886 | 54.68 | 0.80 | 311,592 | 50.21 | 0.73 |
| 2020 | 371 | 38.36 | 0.61 | 49,690 | 59.43 | 0.80 | 343,342 | 55.68 | 0.75 |
| 2019 | 449 | 46.22 | 0.71 | 52,052 | 62.33 | 0.82 | 348,574 | 56.87 | 0.75 |
| 2018 | 352 | 36.25 | 0.62 | 46,778 | 56.19 | 0.79 | 340,408 | 55.87 | 0.79 |
| 2017 | 400 | 41.27 | 0.77 | 42,348 | 51.17 | 0.80 | 312,784 | 51.72 | 0.81 |
| 2016 | 113 | 11.66 | 0.73 | 13,096 | 15.85 | 0.83 | 92,229 | 15.29 | 0.80 |
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Swanage Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridport | 532 | 58.65 | 78% more dangerous |
| Portland | 727 | 50.77 | 54% more dangerous |
| Shaftesbury | 501 | 50.23 | 53% more dangerous |
| Dorchester | 1,218 | 45.28 | 38% more dangerous |
| Sherborne | 445 | 37.00 | 12% more dangerous |
| Blandford Forum | 436 | 39.06 | 19% more dangerous |
| Lytchett Minster and Upton | 298 | 32.78 | 0.36% safer |
| Swanage | 311 | 32.90 | - |
| Ferndown Town | 626 | 30.90 | 6% safer |
| Gillingham | 383 | 29.26 | 11% safer |
| Verwood | 424 | 26.76 | 19% safer |
| Corfe Mullen | 253 | 23.53 | 28% safer |
| West Moors | 161 | 21.51 | 35% safer |
Comparing Swanage to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Swanage | 32.90 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 142% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 151% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 156% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 197% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 218% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 219% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 224% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 226% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 227% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 280% 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 Swanage's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Swanage 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day's Park | 4 | - | 1 | - | 6 | 1 |
| Kirkwood Park | 2 | - | - | - | 4 | 5 |
| Forres Playing Field | 2 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| King George's Field | 1 | - | 1 | - | 2 | 1 |
| Prince Albert Gardens | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 2 |
| Durlston Country Park | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Sandpit Field | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | 0 |
Recent Crimes in Swanage
The 20 most recent crime reports in Swanage.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Bay View | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Marsh Way | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Eldon Terrace | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Sports/Recreation Area | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near De Moulham Road | |
| April 2026 | Other crime | On or near Anvil Close | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Cornwall Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Anvil Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Cauldron Crescent | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Seaward Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Manwell'S Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Anvil Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Institute Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Sports/Recreation Area | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near High Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Higher Day'S Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Swanage | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Mermond Place | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Police Station | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Anvil Close |
Methodology & Data Sources
Swanage 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 Swanage 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.
Swanage Data Points
For Swanage, 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 E04003483.
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 Swanage's daytime - or "workday" - population of 8,742 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 Swanage