Crime and Safety in Polegate
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Polegate is among the top 5 most dangerous small towns in East Sussex, and is the 22nd most dangerous overall out of East Sussex's 108 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Polegate in 2026 is 50 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to East Sussex's overall crime rate, coming in 32% lower than the East Sussex rate of 74 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Polegate is the 368th most dangerous small town, and the 2,384th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In February 2025, Polegate had the worst crime rate in East Sussex for theft from the person, with 1 crime reported and a crime rate of 0.10 per 1,000 daytime population. August 2025 was also a bad month for Polegate residents, when it was East Sussex's most dangerous area for shoplifting, recording 22 crimes at a rate of 2.2 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Polegate are violence and sexual offences, with 163 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 16. This is 8% lower than 2025's figure of 177 offences and a difference of 1.38 from 2025's crime rate of 17. Polegate's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 1 offence recorded in 2026, a decrease of 50% from 2025's figure of 2 crimes.
Polegate 2026 Crime Scorecard
Top 5 Most Dangerous
Small Towns, East Sussex
18% lower, regional crime rate
South East
30% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Polegate is 18% lower than the South East and 30% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Polegate Crime Rate Over Time
| Polegate | |
| South East | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Polegate Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Polegate 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 Polegate Compares
You can compare Polegate'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 Polegate's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Polegate up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Polegate's 305 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 Polegate? 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
Polegate • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Polegate has a crime risk score of 344. This is based on analysis of 305 nearby areas within Polegate, 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 Polegate's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Polegate, crime risk scores are typically around 344, while in East Sussex they are average 474.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 450 (474 for East Sussex), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 454 (East Sussex 468).
Trends in Crime Risk
Polegate
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 Polegate'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 Polegate's crime risk score is up by 15%. 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, Polegate's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 2.0%, 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
Polegate
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
Polegate • 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 15 reports per 1,000 people in Polegate, which is 2.16 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 158 crime reports logged by Sussex Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Sussex Police recorded 3 reports of Possession of Weapons in Polegate, resulting in a crime rate of 0.30 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.50.
The crime rate for Robbery is 1.04 times the national average at 0.50 reports per 1,000. This is from 5 crime reports reported to Sussex Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Polegate
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.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.26 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.32 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 294% over this timeframe.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.06 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.60 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 243% over this timeframe.
Theft From the Person 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
Polegate
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Robbery offences are trending downwards, though the CrimeRate Index three years ago is too low to measure, and the trend should be reviewed with caution.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.48 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.61 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 21% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of - for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 1.00 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a near-complete decrease over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Polegate • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Polegate | East Sussex | South East | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 114 | 11.11 | 0.79 | 16,018 | 17.42 | 1.23 | 115,500 | 10.87 | 0.77 |
| Bicycle Theft | 1 | 0.10 | 1.67 | 670 | 0.74 | 1.01 | 7,315 | 0.68 | 0.93 |
| Burglary | 14 | 1.39 | 0.67 | 2,223 | 2.42 | 0.77 | 23,535 | 2.23 | 0.71 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 55 | 5.36 | 0.92 | 5,927 | 6.45 | 1.03 | 58,501 | 5.50 | 0.88 |
| Drugs | 10 | 0.99 | 0.47 | 2,829 | 3.07 | 0.99 | 25,203 | 2.37 | 0.77 |
| Other Crime | 21 | 2.06 | 1.49 | 1,777 | 1.93 | 1.04 | 17,151 | 1.61 | 0.87 |
| Other Theft | 29 | 2.83 | 0.60 | 5,101 | 5.53 | 0.97 | 51,336 | 4.84 | 0.85 |
| Possession of Weapons | 3 | 0.30 | 1.50 | 1,053 | 1.15 | 1.35 | 8,736 | 0.81 | 0.95 |
| Public Order | 37 | 3.60 | 0.62 | 6,717 | 7.31 | 1.26 | 54,745 | 5.15 | 0.89 |
| Robbery | 5 | 0.50 | 1.04 | 965 | 1.06 | 0.90 | 7,588 | 0.72 | 0.61 |
| Shoplifting | 158 | 15.40 | 2.16 | 10,717 | 11.65 | 1.63 | 72,983 | 6.88 | 0.96 |
| Theft From the Person | 2 | 0.20 | 0.83 | 654 | 0.71 | 0.46 | 4,668 | 0.45 | 0.29 |
| Vehicle Crime | 17 | 1.67 | 0.58 | 2,380 | 2.58 | 0.60 | 34,099 | 3.22 | 0.75 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 163 | 15.89 | 0.52 | 26,607 | 28.96 | 0.95 | 286,815 | 26.98 | 0.89 |
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Total Crime by Year
Polegate | East Sussex | South East | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 515 | 50.29 | 0.79 | 67,620 | 73.56 | 1.02 | 652,675 | 61.44 | 0.85 |
| 2025 | 579 | 56.98 | 0.85 | 68,053 | 74.58 | 1.01 | 670,274 | 63.35 | 0.86 |
| 2024 | 525 | 52.07 | 0.79 | 68,083 | 75.18 | 1.00 | 690,903 | 65.86 | 0.87 |
| 2023 | 482 | 47.55 | 0.70 | 65,164 | 72.58 | 0.92 | 713,547 | 68.83 | 0.87 |
| 2022 | 456 | 45.30 | 0.69 | 62,324 | 70.05 | 0.91 | 704,444 | 68.58 | 0.89 |
| 2021 | 433 | 43.46 | 0.71 | 57,091 | 64.36 | 0.94 | 625,484 | 61.36 | 0.89 |
| 2020 | 493 | 50.72 | 0.78 | 65,780 | 74.02 | 1.00 | 669,219 | 65.97 | 0.89 |
| 2019 | 480 | 49.97 | 0.75 | 60,704 | 68.18 | 0.89 | 666,505 | 65.82 | 0.86 |
| 2018 | 399 | 42.20 | 0.70 | 58,790 | 66.08 | 0.93 | 644,142 | 63.85 | 0.90 |
| 2017 | 398 | 42.99 | 0.79 | 56,884 | 63.98 | 1.00 | 552,696 | 55.04 | 0.86 |
| 2016 | 92 | 10.06 | 0.67 | 16,489 | 18.56 | 0.97 | 160,273 | 15.99 | 0.84 |
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Polegate Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newhaven | 1,313 | 92.90 | 85% more dangerous |
| Lewes | 1,410 | 72.33 | 44% more dangerous |
| Peacehaven | 929 | 57.47 | 14% more dangerous |
| Polegate | 515 | 50.29 | - |
| Hailsham | 1,345 | 53.12 | 6% more dangerous |
| Telscombe | 297 | 38.45 | 24% safer |
| Willingdon and Jevington | 307 | 36.30 | 28% safer |
| Uckfield | 731 | 41.55 | 17% safer |
| Westham | 295 | 33.40 | 34% safer |
| Seaford | 888 | 36.57 | 27% safer |
| Crowborough | 808 | 32.20 | 36% safer |
| Heathfield and Waldron | 383 | 28.75 | 43% safer |
Comparing Polegate to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Polegate | 50.29 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 58% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 64% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 67% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 95% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 108% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 109% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 112% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 113% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 114% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 149% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
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Offences In and Around Polegate's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Polegate 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| War Memorial Ground | 2 | - | 1 | - | 11 | 11 |
| Council Owned Garden Plots | 1 | - | 3 | - | 8 | 2 |
Recent Crimes in Polegate
The 20 most recent crime reports in Polegate.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Balmoral Mews | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Victoria Road | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Oaklands Close | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Spurway Park | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Sayerland Lane | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Aberdale Road | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Bernhard Gardens | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Otteham Close | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near A2270 | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Cross Street | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Lavender Grove | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Old Drive | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near High Street | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near West Close | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near Gilda Crescent | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near A2270 | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near School Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near School Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Sandringham Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Blenheim Way |
Methodology & Data Sources
Polegate 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 Polegate during June 2026 will typically become available in August 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.
Polegate Data Points
For Polegate, 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 E04003860.
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 Polegate's daytime - or "workday" - population of 6,346 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 Polegate