Crime and Safety in Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Whitley Bay is the second safest medium-sized town in Tyne & Wear, and is among the top 10 safest overall out of Tyne & Wear's 28 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Whitley Bay in 2026 is 54 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to Tyne & Wear's overall crime rate, coming in 29% lower than the Tyne & Wear rate of 76 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Whitley Bay is among the top 20 safest medium-sized towns, and the 4,215th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In October 2021, Whitley Bay had the worst crime rate in Tyne & Wear for vehicle crime, with 50 crimes reported and a crime rate of 1.4 per 1,000 daytime population. September 2020 was also a bad month for Whitley Bay residents, when it was again Tyne & Wear's most dangerous area for vehicle crime, recording 38 crimes at a rate of 1.0 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Whitley Bay are violence and sexual offences, with 641 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 17. This is 23% lower than 2025's figure of 828 offences and a difference of 5.01 from 2025's crime rate of 22. Whitley Bay's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 13 offences recorded in 2026, a decrease of 35% from 2025's figure of 20 crimes.
Whitley Bay 2026 Crime Scorecard
Second Safest
Medium-Sized Towns, Tyne & Wear
36% lower, regional crime rate
North East
25% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Whitley Bay is 36% lower than the North East and 25% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Whitley Bay Crime Rate Over Time
| Whitley Bay | |
| North East | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Whitley Bay Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Whitley Bay 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 Whitley Bay Compares
You can compare Whitley Bay'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 Whitley Bay's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Whitley Bay up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Whitley Bay's 833 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 Whitley Bay? 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
Whitley Bay • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Whitley Bay has a crime risk score of 274. This is based on analysis of 833 nearby areas within Whitley Bay, 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 Whitley Bay's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Whitley Bay, crime risk scores are typically around 274, while in Tyne & Wear they are average 515.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 361 (576 for Tyne & Wear), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 445 (Tyne & Wear 622).
Trends in Crime Risk
Whitley Bay
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 40% in Whitley Bay'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.
The five-year trend may be static; no significant trend was identified in Whitley Bay's crime risk scores during this timeframe.
Over the last year, Whitley Bay's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 41%, 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
Whitley Bay
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
Whitley Bay • 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 13 reports per 1,000 people in Whitley Bay, which is 1.83 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 487 crime reports logged by Northumbria Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Northumbria Police recorded 100 reports of Burglary in Whitley Bay, resulting in a crime rate of 2.67 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 0.85.
The crime rate for Robbery is 0.81 times the national average at 0.95 reports per 1,000. This is from 35 crime reports reported to Northumbria Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Whitley Bay
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.
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 0.43 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 133% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.30 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 0.33 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 9% over this timeframe.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.15 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 1.88 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 14% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Whitley Bay
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 0.54 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.98 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 45% over this timeframe.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.31 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 1.66 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 81% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.33 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.62 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 47% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Whitley Bay • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Whitley Bay | Tyne & Wear | North East | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 455 | 12.18 | 0.86 | 23,059 | 17.10 | 1.21 | 60,647 | 19.76 | 1.40 |
| Bicycle Theft | 23 | 0.62 | 1.09 | 710 | 0.54 | 0.74 | 1,566 | 0.51 | 0.70 |
| Burglary | 100 | 2.67 | 0.85 | 5,081 | 3.77 | 1.20 | 12,568 | 4.10 | 1.31 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 166 | 4.42 | 0.70 | 11,024 | 8.17 | 1.30 | 31,671 | 10.32 | 1.64 |
| Drugs | 39 | 1.05 | 0.41 | 2,980 | 2.21 | 0.72 | 7,960 | 2.59 | 0.84 |
| Other Crime | 82 | 2.18 | 1.18 | 4,262 | 3.16 | 1.71 | 10,427 | 3.40 | 1.84 |
| Other Theft | 123 | 3.29 | 0.58 | 7,032 | 5.20 | 0.91 | 16,082 | 5.24 | 0.92 |
| Possession of Weapons | 13 | 0.34 | 0.68 | 1,082 | 0.79 | 0.93 | 2,627 | 0.84 | 0.99 |
| Public Order | 175 | 4.66 | 0.80 | 9,204 | 6.82 | 1.18 | 22,100 | 7.21 | 1.24 |
| Robbery | 35 | 0.95 | 0.81 | 1,813 | 1.35 | 1.14 | 3,786 | 1.23 | 1.04 |
| Shoplifting | 487 | 13.05 | 1.83 | 14,098 | 10.46 | 1.47 | 33,748 | 10.99 | 1.54 |
| Theft From the Person | 14 | 0.38 | 0.42 | 824 | 0.61 | 0.39 | 1,449 | 0.47 | 0.30 |
| Vehicle Crime | 117 | 3.15 | 0.73 | 4,898 | 3.61 | 0.84 | 11,617 | 3.77 | 0.88 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 641 | 17.15 | 0.56 | 39,832 | 29.55 | 0.97 | 104,999 | 34.22 | 1.13 |
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Total Crime by Year
Whitley Bay | Tyne & Wear | North East | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 2,015 | 53.91 | 0.77 | 102,840 | 76.24 | 1.06 | 260,600 | 84.89 | 1.18 |
| 2025 | 2,180 | 58.43 | 0.80 | 117,105 | 87.13 | 1.18 | 272,201 | 89.21 | 1.21 |
| 2024 | 2,117 | 56.99 | 0.77 | 120,036 | 90.33 | 1.20 | 285,067 | 94.47 | 1.25 |
| 2023 | 2,207 | 59.41 | 0.76 | 121,430 | 92.52 | 1.17 | 295,603 | 99.04 | 1.25 |
| 2022 | 2,112 | 56.86 | 0.76 | 116,049 | 89.56 | 1.17 | 273,599 | 93.03 | 1.21 |
| 2021 | 2,019 | 54.36 | 0.81 | 107,826 | 83.61 | 1.22 | 250,848 | 85.95 | 1.25 |
| 2020 | 2,161 | 57.95 | 0.79 | 122,585 | 94.98 | 1.28 | 276,026 | 94.68 | 1.28 |
| 2019 | 2,429 | 65.10 | 0.87 | 139,523 | 108.10 | 1.42 | 298,335 | 102.44 | 1.34 |
| 2018 | 2,411 | 64.74 | 0.92 | 134,395 | 104.16 | 1.46 | 280,195 | 96.33 | 1.35 |
| 2017 | 2,150 | 57.77 | 0.92 | 108,660 | 84.25 | 1.32 | 226,807 | 78.00 | 1.22 |
| 2016 | 568 | 15.29 | 0.82 | 31,151 | 24.16 | 1.27 | 66,798 | 22.96 | 1.20 |
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Whitley Bay Compared to Nearby Medium-Sized Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Medium-Sized Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jarrow | 2,808 | 92.49 | 72% more dangerous |
| Wallsend | 4,425 | 87.67 | 63% more dangerous |
| Whitley Bay | 2,015 | 53.91 | - |
| Longbenton | 1,603 | 42.04 | 22% safer |
Comparing Whitley Bay to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Whitley Bay | 53.91 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 48% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 53% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 56% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 82% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 94% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 95% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 98% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 99% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 100% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 132% more dangerous |
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Offences In and Around Whitley Bay's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Whitley Bay 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leg of Mutton Allotments | - | 1 | - | - | - | 3 |
| Whitley Bay Cemetery | 8 | 1 | 3 | - | 18 | 12 |
| Whitley Links | 42 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 37 | 28 |
| Whitley Park | 9 | - | 2 | - | 3 | 3 |
| Victoria Park Bowling Green | 1 | - | 1 | - | 4 | 18 |
| Rockcliffe Park | 11 | - | 1 | - | 15 | 5 |
| Hillheads Allotments | 4 | - | - | - | 2 | 4 |
| Foxhunters Playing Fields | 16 | - | 5 | - | 10 | 10 |
| Langley Playing Field | - | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| Marden Quarry Nature Reserve | 1 | - | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Recent Crimes in Whitley Bay
The 20 most recent crime reports in Whitley Bay.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Grenada Close | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near South Parade | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Brierdene Close | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near St Mary'S Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Coronation Crescent | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near South Parade | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near South Parade | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near South Parade |
Methodology & Data Sources
Whitley Bay 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 Whitley Bay 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.
Whitley Bay Data Points
For Whitley Bay, 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 E63000061.
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 Whitley Bay's daytime - or "workday" - population of 24,999 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 Whitley Bay