Crime and Safety in Birkenhead
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Birkenhead is the second most dangerous major town in Merseyside, and is among the top 10 most dangerous overall out of Merseyside's 39 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Birkenhead in 2026 is 92 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to Merseyside's overall crime rate, coming in 9% higher than the Merseyside rate of 85 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Birkenhead is the 43rd most dangerous major town, and the 801st most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In March 2022, Birkenhead had the worst crime rate in Merseyside for criminal damage and arson, with 161 crimes reported and a crime rate of 1.3 per 1,000 daytime population. June 2022 was also a bad month for Birkenhead residents, when it was again Merseyside's most dangerous area for criminal damage and arson, recording 151 crimes at a rate of 1.2 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Birkenhead are violence and sexual offences, with 5,177 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 41. This is 1.3% lower than 2025's figure of 5,247 offences and a difference of 0.54 from 2025's crime rate of 42. Birkenhead's least common crime is theft from the person, with 34 offences recorded in 2026, a decrease of 2.9% from 2025's figure of 35 crimes.
Birkenhead 2026 Crime Scorecard
Second Most Dangerous
Major Towns, Merseyside
113% higher, regional crime rate
North West
28% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Birkenhead is 113% higher than the North West and 28% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Birkenhead Crime Rate Over Time
| Birkenhead | |
| North West | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Birkenhead Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Birkenhead 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 Birkenhead Compares
You can compare Birkenhead'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 Birkenhead's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Birkenhead up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Birkenhead's 2,857 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 Birkenhead? 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
Birkenhead • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Birkenhead has a crime risk score of 588. This is based on analysis of 2,857 nearby areas within Birkenhead, 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 Birkenhead's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Birkenhead, crime risk scores are typically around 588, while in Merseyside they are average 565.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 684 (599 for Merseyside), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 759 (Merseyside 607).
Trends in Crime Risk
Birkenhead
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 Birkenhead'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 Birkenhead's crime risk score is down by 13%. 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, Birkenhead's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 3.0%, 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
Birkenhead
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
Birkenhead • 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.
Drugs offences have a crime rate of 7.04 reports per 1,000 people in Birkenhead, which is 2.28 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 885 crime reports logged by Merseyside Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Merseyside Police recorded 1,403 reports of Public Order in Birkenhead, resulting in a crime rate of 11 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.93.
The crime rate for Criminal Damage and Arson is 1.51 times the national average at 9.46 reports per 1,000. This is from 1,188 crime reports reported to Merseyside Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Birkenhead
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 0.91 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 0.82 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 11% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.60 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 1.67 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 64% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.00 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 0.80 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 25% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Birkenhead
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Drugs offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.04 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 3.48 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 41% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.21 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 1.73 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 30% over this timeframe.
Theft From the Person offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.17 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 0.62 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 73% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Birkenhead • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Birkenhead | Merseyside | North West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 1,469 | 11.69 | 0.83 | 14,742 | 9.07 | 0.64 | 68,604 | 7.93 | 0.56 |
| Bicycle Theft | 74 | 0.60 | 0.82 | 1,158 | 0.69 | 0.95 | 2,963 | 0.35 | 0.48 |
| Burglary | 347 | 2.75 | 0.88 | 3,957 | 2.45 | 0.78 | 13,151 | 1.50 | 0.48 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 1,188 | 9.46 | 1.51 | 12,556 | 7.72 | 1.23 | 34,232 | 3.94 | 0.63 |
| Drugs | 885 | 7.04 | 2.28 | 13,621 | 8.37 | 2.71 | 23,463 | 2.70 | 0.87 |
| Other Crime | 321 | 2.54 | 1.37 | 3,703 | 2.28 | 1.23 | 11,008 | 1.28 | 0.69 |
| Other Theft | 616 | 4.91 | 0.86 | 8,073 | 4.97 | 0.87 | 24,256 | 2.79 | 0.49 |
| Possession of Weapons | 135 | 1.08 | 1.27 | 1,415 | 0.87 | 1.02 | 4,543 | 0.53 | 0.62 |
| Public Order | 1,403 | 11.18 | 1.93 | 15,065 | 9.28 | 1.60 | 36,702 | 4.23 | 0.73 |
| Robbery | 114 | 0.90 | 0.76 | 1,488 | 0.92 | 0.78 | 3,301 | 0.38 | 0.32 |
| Shoplifting | 939 | 7.48 | 1.05 | 10,571 | 6.51 | 0.91 | 27,614 | 3.18 | 0.45 |
| Theft From the Person | 34 | 0.29 | 0.19 | 846 | 0.52 | 0.34 | 1,948 | 0.23 | 0.15 |
| Vehicle Crime | 364 | 2.90 | 0.67 | 5,106 | 3.13 | 0.73 | 14,353 | 1.67 | 0.39 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 5,177 | 41.23 | 1.36 | 60,389 | 37.15 | 1.22 | 178,380 | 20.58 | 0.68 |
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Total Crime by Year
Birkenhead | Merseyside | North West | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 11,597 | 92.36 | 1.28 | 137,948 | 84.86 | 1.18 | 375,914 | 43.36 | 0.60 |
| 2025 | 11,321 | 90.09 | 1.22 | 134,669 | 83.12 | 1.12 | 373,106 | 43.34 | 0.59 |
| 2024 | 11,924 | 95.95 | 1.28 | 143,136 | 89.04 | 1.18 | 380,165 | 44.52 | 0.59 |
| 2023 | 15,541 | 127.03 | 1.61 | 167,521 | 105.45 | 1.33 | 418,544 | 49.63 | 0.63 |
| 2022 | 14,948 | 123.69 | 1.61 | 167,243 | 106.55 | 1.39 | 410,255 | 49.27 | 0.64 |
| 2021 | 11,752 | 97.64 | 1.42 | 131,617 | 84.36 | 1.23 | 363,499 | 44.00 | 0.64 |
| 2020 | 12,214 | 101.42 | 1.37 | 133,992 | 86.00 | 1.16 | 388,434 | 47.29 | 0.64 |
| 2019 | 12,471 | 103.58 | 1.36 | 134,221 | 86.18 | 1.13 | 412,412 | 50.39 | 0.66 |
| 2018 | 11,099 | 92.88 | 1.31 | 125,895 | 81.10 | 1.14 | 361,592 | 44.45 | 0.63 |
| 2017 | 9,565 | 80.47 | 1.26 | 110,860 | 71.66 | 1.12 | 303,042 | 37.41 | 0.59 |
| 2016 | 2,970 | 25.05 | 1.31 | 32,317 | 20.91 | 1.10 | 87,310 | 10.80 | 0.57 |
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Birkenhead Compared to Nearby Major Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
Comparing Birkenhead to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 14% safer |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 10% safer |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 9% safer |
| Birkenhead | 92.36 | - |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 6% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 13% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 14% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 15% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 16% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 17% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 35% more dangerous |
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.
Offences In and Around Birkenhead's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Birkenhead 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Bidston Village Park | 15 | 3 | 4 | - | 36 | 10 |
| Arrowe | 16 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 26 | 21 |
| Old Parkonians Association | - | 2 | - | - | 1 | 2 |
| Upton Meadow | 19 | - | 8 | 1 | 12 | 30 |
| Old Grave Yard | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 |
| Upton Victory Hall | - | - | 2 | - | 12 | 4 |
| Carrodus Allotments | 7 | 5 | 2 | - | 29 | 11 |
| Shakeshaft Allotments | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | 12 | 1 |
| Flaybrick Memorial Gardens | 5 | 2 | 3 | - | 29 | 6 |
| Birkenhead Park Rugby Club | 5 | - | 2 | - | 5 | 1 |
| Bidston Court Gardens | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Redcourt and St Anselm's College Sports Ground | 7 | - | 2 | - | 15 | 4 |
| LC McAllester Memorial Field | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Europa Pools | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | 18 | 12 |
| The Woodlands Community Park | 8 | - | 7 | 1 | 18 | 87 |
| Titans Gym | 2 | 3 | - | - | 3 | 4 |
| Komyokan Dojo | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 29 | 17 |
| Woodchurch Leisure Centre | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | 3 | 2 |
| Fairview Allotment Gardens | 1 | - | - | - | 6 | 4 |
| Walker Park | 1 | - | - | - | 2 | 3 |
| Molyneux Allotments | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 |
| Courtney Park | - | 3 | 2 | - | 23 | 8 |
| Upton Cricket Club | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Warwick Hey Recreation Ground | 2 | - | 1 | - | 6 | 5 |
| Bidston Hill | 4 | - | 4 | - | 32 | 6 |
| Birkenhead Park | 34 | 16 | 23 | 2 | 85 | 51 |
| Mersey Park | 11 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 72 | 40 |
| Victoria Park | 4 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 46 | 25 |
| Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre | 3 | - | 2 | - | 11 | 9 |
| Bidston Community Garden | 3 | 1 | 7 | - | 13 | 12 |
| Upton Pines Play Area | 7 | - | 5 | - | 4 | 1 |
| Upton Park | 3 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 27 | 12 |
| Duck Pond Lake Park | 11 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 24 |
Recent Crimes in Birkenhead
The 20 most recent crime reports in Birkenhead.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Hoblyn Road | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Derby Road | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Drugs | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Possession of weapons | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Catherine Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Catherine Street |
Methodology & Data Sources
Birkenhead 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 Birkenhead 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.
Birkenhead Data Points
For Birkenhead, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Office for National Statistics in the December 2022 release of their Built Up Areas dataset, using the BUA22CD column value E63001403.
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 Birkenhead's daytime - or "workday" - population of 96,468 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 Birkenhead