East Sussex Crime Statistics
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The overall crime rate in East Sussex as of April 2026 is 74 crimes per 1,000 people, and the most common crimes are violence and sexual offences, with reports coming from roughly every 29 out of 1,000 daytime population.
Comparing East Sussex's larger towns and cities, and using Crime Risk Scores - which are calculated by taking severity of each crime type into account - Hastings is the most dangerous. The next most dangerous is Brighton and Hove, and Eastbourne comes in as third most dangerous. There are safer parts of East Sussex, identified using the same Crime Risk measurement, starting with Bexhill which ranks as the safest area in East Sussex.
East Sussex Crime Map
Incidents mapped in East Sussex 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.
Introduction to East Sussex's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around East Sussex up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of East Sussex's 35,203 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.
Crime Risk Scores
East Sussex • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within East Sussex has a crime risk score of 474. This is based on analysis of 35,203 nearby areas within East Sussex, 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 East Sussex's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in East Sussex, crime risk scores are typically around 474, while in South East they are average 441.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 474 (449 for South East), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 468 (South East 458).
Trends in Crime Risk
East Sussex
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 14% in East Sussex'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 East Sussex's crime risk score is up by 0.11%. 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, East Sussex's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 1.1%, 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
East Sussex
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
East Sussex • 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 12 reports per 1,000 people in East Sussex, which is 1.63 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 10,717 crime reports logged by Sussex Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Sussex Police recorded 1,053 reports of Possession of Weapons in East Sussex, resulting in a crime rate of 1.15 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.35.
The crime rate for Public Order is 1.26 times the national average at 7.31 reports per 1,000. This is from 6,717 crime reports reported to Sussex Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
East Sussex
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.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.38 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 1.23 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 12% over this timeframe.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.29 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Possession of Weapons CrimeRate Index was 1.00 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 29% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.83 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 0.87 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 4.6% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
East Sussex
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.04 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 1.03 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 0.97% over this timeframe.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.71 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 0.66 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 8% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.96 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.93 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 3.2% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
East Sussex • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
East Sussex | South East | Sussex Police | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 16,018 | 17.42 | 1.23 | 115,500 | 10.87 | 0.77 | 30,504 | 15.88 | 1.12 |
| Bicycle Theft | 670 | 0.74 | 1.01 | 7,315 | 0.68 | 0.93 | 1,309 | 0.68 | 0.93 |
| Burglary | 2,223 | 2.42 | 0.77 | 23,535 | 2.23 | 0.71 | 4,385 | 2.27 | 0.73 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 5,927 | 6.45 | 1.03 | 58,501 | 5.50 | 0.88 | 11,576 | 6.03 | 0.96 |
| Drugs | 2,829 | 3.07 | 0.99 | 25,203 | 2.37 | 0.77 | 4,955 | 2.57 | 0.83 |
| Other Crime | 1,777 | 1.93 | 1.04 | 17,151 | 1.61 | 0.87 | 3,228 | 1.68 | 0.91 |
| Other Theft | 5,101 | 5.53 | 0.97 | 51,336 | 4.84 | 0.85 | 9,622 | 5.00 | 0.88 |
| Possession of Weapons | 1,053 | 1.15 | 1.35 | 8,736 | 0.81 | 0.95 | 2,449 | 1.27 | 1.49 |
| Public Order | 6,717 | 7.31 | 1.26 | 54,745 | 5.15 | 0.89 | 12,518 | 6.52 | 1.12 |
| Robbery | 965 | 1.06 | 0.90 | 7,588 | 0.72 | 0.61 | 1,763 | 0.92 | 0.78 |
| Shoplifting | 10,717 | 11.65 | 1.63 | 72,983 | 6.88 | 0.96 | 19,151 | 9.96 | 1.40 |
| Theft From the Person | 654 | 0.71 | 0.46 | 4,668 | 0.45 | 0.29 | 984 | 0.51 | 0.33 |
| Vehicle Crime | 2,380 | 2.58 | 0.60 | 34,099 | 3.22 | 0.75 | 4,974 | 2.59 | 0.60 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 26,607 | 28.96 | 0.95 | 286,815 | 26.98 | 0.89 | 50,780 | 26.41 | 0.87 |
Download | |||||||||
Total Crime by Year
East Sussex | South East | Sussex Police | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 67,620 | 73.56 | 1.02 | 652,675 | 61.44 | 0.85 | 127,694 | 66.41 | 0.92 |
| 2025 | 68,053 | 74.58 | 1.01 | 670,274 | 63.35 | 0.86 | 129,561 | 67.91 | 0.92 |
| 2024 | 68,083 | 75.18 | 1.00 | 690,903 | 65.86 | 0.87 | 133,619 | 70.64 | 0.94 |
| 2023 | 65,164 | 72.58 | 0.92 | 713,547 | 68.83 | 0.87 | 126,335 | 67.33 | 0.85 |
| 2022 | 62,324 | 70.05 | 0.91 | 704,444 | 68.58 | 0.89 | 118,414 | 63.65 | 0.83 |
| 2021 | 57,091 | 64.36 | 0.94 | 625,484 | 61.36 | 0.89 | 107,774 | 58.27 | 0.85 |
| 2020 | 65,780 | 74.02 | 1.00 | 669,219 | 65.97 | 0.89 | 123,469 | 66.98 | 0.90 |
| 2019 | 60,704 | 68.18 | 0.89 | 666,505 | 65.82 | 0.86 | 114,599 | 62.30 | 0.82 |
| 2018 | 58,790 | 66.08 | 0.93 | 644,142 | 63.85 | 0.90 | 110,104 | 60.05 | 0.84 |
| 2017 | 56,884 | 63.98 | 1.00 | 552,696 | 55.04 | 0.86 | 104,155 | 57.04 | 0.89 |
| 2016 | 16,489 | 18.56 | 0.97 | 160,273 | 15.99 | 0.84 | 30,695 | 16.86 | 0.88 |
Download | |||||||||
The East Sussex Streets With The Highest Crime Counts
Each police crime report that CrimeRate receives has a street name automatically assigned to it by the police data team, and this table uses the coordinates to count crimes, rather than the street name alone. That way, if East Sussex has multiple identical street names - which is not unusual - they will be treated separately by CrimeRate's systems.
| Street | Crime Count | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Street Brighton and Hove | 172 | ||||||||
| Havelock Road Hastings | 105 | ||||||||
| Ceylon Place Eastbourne | 103 | ||||||||
| St Michael'S Terrace Lewes | 58 | ||||||||
| Sea Road Bexhill | 56 | ||||||||
| Railway Road Newhaven | 49 | ||||||||
| Jarretts Close Rye | 34 | ||||||||
| High Street Polegate | 31 | ||||||||
| Uckfield Road Crowborough | 31 | ||||||||
| Petrol Station Hailsham | 30 | ||||||||
Download | |||||||||
Town and City Comparison
| Town / City | Crime Count | Crime Rate | CrimeRate Index | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hastings | 10,217 | 104.85 | 1.46 | ||||||
| Eastbourne | 11,329 | 102.99 | 1.43 | ||||||
| Newhaven | 1,313 | 92.90 | 1.33 | ||||||
| Brighton and Hove | 27,848 | 89.82 | 1.25 | ||||||
| Lewes | 1,410 | 72.33 | 1.04 | ||||||
| Bexhill | 3,071 | 67.67 | 0.95 | ||||||
| Peacehaven | 929 | 57.47 | 0.86 | ||||||
| Hailsham | 1,345 | 53.12 | 0.77 | ||||||
| Polegate | 515 | 50.29 | 0.79 | ||||||
| Uckfield | 731 | 41.55 | 0.62 | ||||||
| Telscombe | 297 | 38.45 | 0.71 | ||||||
| Seaford | 888 | 36.57 | 0.53 | ||||||
| Willingdon and Jevington | 307 | 36.30 | 0.62 | ||||||
| Westham | 295 | 33.40 | 0.60 | ||||||
| Crowborough | 808 | 32.20 | 0.49 | ||||||
| Heathfield and Waldron | 383 | 28.75 | 0.48 | ||||||
Download | |||||||||
CrimeRate Pro
To download charts and tables, you must subscribed to CrimeRate Pro
You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.