Essex Police Statistics

Last updated: 07 Jun 2026

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The crime rate in Essex Police's force coverage area is 69 crimes per 1,000 people, for the 12-month period ending April 2026. The most commonly-reported crimes are violence and sexual offences, reported at a rate of roughly 32 reports per 1,000 daytime population.

Comparing the larger towns and cities under Essex Police's command using their respective Crime Risk Score - which considers the typical sentence length that convicted offenders receive for each type of crime when adding up the totals - the location with the highest score is Basildon. The next most dangerous is Harlow, and Colchester comes in as third most dangerous. Essex Police serve many areas, and there are plenty of places with lower scores, such as Southend-on-Sea, which ranks as the safest area watched over by Essex Police, followed up by Grays in second place, and Chelmsford in third place.

Essex Police Crime Map

Incidents mapped in Essex Police's service area represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.

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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.

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Introduction to Essex Police's crime statistics

 

This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Essex Police up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Essex Police's 64,511 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.

Overview map crime around Essex Police

Crime Risk Scores

Essex Police • 12 Months Ending April 2026

 

The typical five-minute walk within Essex Police has a crime risk score of 495. This is based on analysis of 64,511 nearby areas within Essex Police, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.

Five Mins
495 crime risk score
Ten Mins
502 crime risk score
Fifteen Mins
509 crime risk score

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 Essex Police's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.

Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Essex Police, crime risk scores are typically around 495, while in National they are average 500.

Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 502 (500 for National), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 509 (National 500).

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Trends in Crime Risk

Essex Police

 

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.

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The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 5% in Essex Police'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 Essex Police's crime risk score is down by 12%. 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, Essex Police'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

Essex Police

 

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

Essex Police • 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.

Vehicle Crime
1.16 CrimeRate Index
Drugs
1.06 CrimeRate Index
Violence and Sexual Offences
1.04 CrimeRate Index

Vehicle Crime offences have a crime rate of 4.98 reports per 1,000 people in Essex Police, which is 1.16 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 10,389 crime reports logged by Essex Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.

For the same period, Essex Police recorded 6,822 reports of Drugs in Essex Police, resulting in a crime rate of 3.27 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.06.

The crime rate for Violence and Sexual Offences is 1.04 times the national average at 32 reports per 1,000. This is from 65,810 crime reports reported to Essex Police.

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Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types

Essex Police

 

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.

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Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.98 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.97 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 1.0% over this timeframe.

Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types

Essex Police

 

Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.

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Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.20 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 1.36 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 12% over this timeframe.

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Public Order offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.90 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.80 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 12% over this timeframe.

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Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.92 for the month of April 2026.

Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 0.97 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 5% over this timeframe.

Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map

Essex Police • 12 Months Ending April 2026

 

Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.

 
Essex Police
National
Crime TypeCountRateIndexCountRateIndex
Anti-Social Behaviour15,8817.620.54941,22414.131.00
Bicycle Theft1,2120.580.7948,4490.731.00
Burglary5,3402.570.82208,6123.131.00
Criminal Damage and Arson12,4775.990.95418,6516.281.00
Drugs6,8223.271.06205,2143.091.00
Other Crime3,3401.610.87124,2301.851.00
Other Theft10,4054.980.88378,1465.691.00
Possession of Weapons1,7540.840.9956,6200.851.00
Public Order10,7075.130.88386,2975.801.00
Robbery1,4390.690.5878,3861.181.00
Shoplifting13,4376.440.90475,0257.131.00
Theft From the Person9980.490.32103,5051.551.00
Vehicle Crime10,3894.981.16287,0684.301.00
Violence and Sexual Offences65,81031.531.042,024,72230.401.00
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Total Crime by Year

 
Essex Police
National
YearCountRateIndexCountRateIndex
2026144,13069.100.964,794,92571.981.00
2025140,17767.700.914,892,73474.031.00
2024150,42873.380.974,937,62075.431.00
2023163,02380.581.025,115,76379.011.00
2022167,18683.541.094,922,64576.811.00
2021150,53375.771.114,369,81168.571.00
2020162,77082.231.114,707,68374.161.00
2019161,80082.211.084,824,37076.251.00
2018137,99170.550.994,484,15171.121.00
2017123,18963.380.994,011,47063.941.00
201637,21219.191.011,195,22119.071.00
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Essex Police: Major Towns & Cities Compared

Town / CityCrime CountCrime RateCrimeRate Index
Stanford-le-Hope64148.945.60
Tilbury1,762113.421.62
Clacton-on-Sea5,975107.721.50
Southend-on-Sea17,25298.711.37
Basildon12,95098.181.36
Colchester11,85395.641.33
Myland1,73786.511.25
Harlow9,19386.191.20
Chelmsford7,63085.761.19
Harwich1,72783.041.21
Chadwell St Mary87482.601.26
Grays3,90982.461.15
Waltham Abbey2,04481.831.15
South Ockendon1,63773.041.04
Epping99271.531.04
Stanway97470.061.05
Loughton2,54568.130.96
Brentwood4,38366.330.92
Rochford84866.240.99
Braintree3,31165.430.92
Canvey Island2,53564.230.91
Maldon1,05861.090.90
Witham1,94361.070.87
Halstead83557.760.86
Chigwell88357.640.92
Wickford1,59554.830.79
Frinton and Walton1,13853.150.78
Buckhurst Hill63651.010.79
Heybridge42049.710.83
Burnham-on-Crouch50549.490.77
Great Baddow77749.140.73
Great Dunmow65148.880.73
Brightlingsea42746.850.78
Wivenhoe35746.730.81
Leigh-on-Sea1,00342.080.62
Rayleigh1,36640.500.58
South Woodham Ferrers66740.350.60
Thundersley and South Benfleet2,03840.210.57
Billericay1,17038.180.55
Tiptree38537.190.60
Saffron Walden70036.020.54
Springfield28634.150.66
Hawkwell37029.450.50
Hockley27226.150.45
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Essex Police Stations

Police Station NamePolice Station AddressDescription & Opening Hours
Basildon Police Station
Great Oaks, Basildon, SS14 1EJ

7 days a week 9am to 5pm Closed on bank holidays

Braintree Police Station
Blyths Meadow, Braintree, CM7 3DJ

7 days a week 9am to 5pm Closed on bank holidays

Chelmsford Police Station
New Street, Chelmsford, CM1 1NF

7 days a week 9am to 5pm Closed on bank holidays

Clacton Police Station
8 Beatrice Road, Clacton, CO15 1ET

7 days a week 9am to 5pm Closed on bank holidays

Colchester Police Station
10 Southway, Colchester, CO3 3BU

7 days a week 9am to 5pm Closed on bank holidays

Grays Police Station
Brooke Road, Grays, RM17 5BX

7 days a week 9am to 5pm Closed on bank holidays

Harlow Police Station
The High, Harlow, CM20 1HG

7 days a week 9am to 5pm Closed on bank holidays

Maldon Police Station
Maldon District Council offices, Princes Road, Maldon, CM9 5DL

Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (Closed 12pm to 1pm each day) Closed on bank holidays

Saffron Walden Police Station
Uttlesford District Council offices, London Road, Saffron Walden, CB11 4ER

Monday - 9am to 5pm Tuesday - 9am to 5pm Wednesday - 9am to 5pm Thursday - 9am to 5pm Friday 9am to 4.30pm Last Wednesday of every month 10am to 5pm

Southend Police Station
Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, SS2 6ES

7 days a week 9am to 5pm Closed on bank holidays

Stansted Airport Police Station
Enterprise House, Bassinbourn Road, Stansted Airport, CM24 1PS

Monday to Sunday 24 hours