Crime and Safety in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Dewsbury is the second safest major town in West Yorkshire, and is among the top 20 most dangerous overall out of West Yorkshire's 118 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Dewsbury in 2026 is 110 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to West Yorkshire's overall crime rate, coming in 15% higher than the West Yorkshire rate of 96 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Dewsbury is the 21st most dangerous major town, and the 544th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In February 2020, Dewsbury had the worst crime rate in West Yorkshire for violence and sexual offences, with 332 crimes reported and a crime rate of 5 per 1,000 daytime population. November 2020 was also a bad month for Dewsbury residents, when it was West Yorkshire's most dangerous area for robbery, recording 13 crimes at a rate of 0.20 per 1,000 daytime population. Dewsbury recorded 72 reports of shoplifting during October 2016, making its crime rate of 1.1 the worst for shoplifting in West Yorkshire that month.
The most common crimes in Dewsbury are violence and sexual offences, with 3,772 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 55. This is 5% lower than 2025's figure of 3,982 offences and a difference of 3.04 from 2025's crime rate of 58. Dewsbury's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 26 offences recorded in 2026, a decrease of 13% from 2025's figure of 30 crimes.
Dewsbury 2026 Crime Scorecard
Second Safest
Major Towns, West Yorkshire
30% higher, regional crime rate
Yorkshire and The Humber
53% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Dewsbury is 30% higher than Yorkshire and The Humber and 53% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Dewsbury Crime Rate Over Time
| Dewsbury | |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Dewsbury Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Dewsbury 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 Dewsbury Compares
You can compare Dewsbury'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 Dewsbury's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Dewsbury up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Dewsbury's 1,477 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 Dewsbury? 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
Dewsbury • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Dewsbury has a crime risk score of 760. This is based on analysis of 1,477 nearby areas within Dewsbury, 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 Dewsbury's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Dewsbury, crime risk scores are typically around 760, while in West Yorkshire they are average 638.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 809 (666 for West Yorkshire), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 854 (West Yorkshire 702).
Trends in Crime Risk
Dewsbury
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 Dewsbury'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 Dewsbury's crime risk score is down by 7%. 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, Dewsbury's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 4.1%, 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
Dewsbury
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
Dewsbury • 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.
Public Order offences have a crime rate of 11 reports per 1,000 people in Dewsbury, which is 1.95 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 777 crime reports logged by West Yorkshire Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, West Yorkshire Police recorded 397 reports of Drugs in Dewsbury, resulting in a crime rate of 5.75 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.86.
The crime rate for Violence and Sexual Offences is 1.80 times the national average at 55 reports per 1,000. This is from 3,772 crime reports reported to West Yorkshire Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Dewsbury
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.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.48 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 1.95 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 27% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Dewsbury
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Public Order offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.85 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 2.89 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 36% over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.67 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 2.13 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 22% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.70 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 1.33 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 47% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Dewsbury • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Dewsbury | West Yorkshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 794 | 11.53 | 0.82 | 28,357 | 10.30 | 0.73 | 77,875 | 12.35 | 0.87 |
| Bicycle Theft | 26 | 0.36 | 0.52 | 1,587 | 0.59 | 0.81 | 4,306 | 0.68 | 0.93 |
| Burglary | 295 | 4.27 | 1.36 | 14,188 | 5.18 | 1.65 | 27,843 | 4.41 | 1.41 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 598 | 8.70 | 1.39 | 20,740 | 7.54 | 1.20 | 47,570 | 7.55 | 1.20 |
| Drugs | 397 | 5.75 | 1.86 | 10,751 | 3.90 | 1.26 | 19,757 | 3.14 | 1.02 |
| Other Crime | 291 | 4.23 | 2.29 | 9,197 | 3.34 | 1.81 | 18,290 | 2.91 | 1.57 |
| Other Theft | 451 | 6.56 | 1.15 | 18,533 | 6.75 | 1.19 | 36,443 | 5.78 | 1.02 |
| Possession of Weapons | 79 | 1.15 | 1.35 | 2,561 | 0.93 | 1.09 | 5,827 | 0.93 | 1.09 |
| Public Order | 777 | 11.31 | 1.95 | 23,622 | 8.57 | 1.48 | 47,514 | 7.55 | 1.30 |
| Robbery | 71 | 1.03 | 0.87 | 3,718 | 1.35 | 1.14 | 7,156 | 1.13 | 0.96 |
| Shoplifting | 430 | 6.26 | 0.88 | 20,448 | 7.41 | 1.04 | 48,695 | 7.71 | 1.08 |
| Theft From the Person | 53 | 0.76 | 0.49 | 2,229 | 0.81 | 0.52 | 3,568 | 0.57 | 0.37 |
| Vehicle Crime | 364 | 5.29 | 1.23 | 15,694 | 5.69 | 1.32 | 30,637 | 4.87 | 1.13 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 3,772 | 54.80 | 1.80 | 122,302 | 44.42 | 1.46 | 239,898 | 38.04 | 1.25 |
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Total Crime by Year
Dewsbury | West Yorkshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 7,604 | 110.47 | 1.54 | 265,570 | 96.48 | 1.34 | 537,504 | 85.27 | 1.18 |
| 2025 | 7,934 | 115.43 | 1.57 | 277,491 | 101.23 | 1.37 | 553,826 | 88.44 | 1.19 |
| 2024 | 8,530 | 125.38 | 1.67 | 287,194 | 105.62 | 1.40 | 576,330 | 93.00 | 1.23 |
| 2023 | 9,088 | 134.92 | 1.71 | 312,915 | 116.19 | 1.47 | 611,034 | 99.55 | 1.26 |
| 2022 | 8,540 | 128.06 | 1.67 | 294,530 | 110.60 | 1.44 | 574,808 | 94.84 | 1.23 |
| 2021 | 7,737 | 116.63 | 1.71 | 250,751 | 94.53 | 1.38 | 501,180 | 83.02 | 1.21 |
| 2020 | 8,674 | 130.97 | 1.77 | 275,554 | 104.15 | 1.40 | 549,148 | 91.15 | 1.23 |
| 2019 | 8,766 | 132.62 | 1.74 | 287,851 | 109.31 | 1.43 | 568,297 | 94.66 | 1.24 |
| 2018 | 7,786 | 118.20 | 1.66 | 256,214 | 97.73 | 1.37 | 514,090 | 85.73 | 1.21 |
| 2017 | 6,632 | 101.20 | 1.59 | 226,333 | 86.57 | 1.35 | 456,998 | 76.46 | 1.20 |
| 2016 | 1,913 | 29.26 | 1.53 | 67,845 | 26.03 | 1.36 | 133,274 | 22.31 | 1.17 |
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Dewsbury Compared to Nearby Major Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Major Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halifax | 11,971 | 119.38 | 8% more dangerous |
| Wakefield | 11,738 | 117.54 | 6% more dangerous |
| Dewsbury | 7,604 | 110.47 | - |
| Huddersfield | 15,749 | 97.95 | 11% safer |
Comparing Dewsbury to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 28% safer |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 25% safer |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 24% safer |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 11% safer |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 5% safer |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 4.9% safer |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 3.6% safer |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 3.1% safer |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 2.5% safer |
| Dewsbury | 110.47 | - |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 13% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
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You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Offences In and Around Dewsbury's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Dewsbury 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earlsheaton Cemetery | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 5 |
| Thornhill Rectory Park | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 7 |
| Staincliffe Park | 3 | 1 | 6 | - | 9 | 9 |
| Green Lane Allotments | - | - | 4 | - | 8 | 5 |
| Carr House Park | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 27 | 13 |
| Lees Holm Recreation Ground | 13 | 2 | 3 | - | 17 | 10 |
| Overthorpe Park | 15 | 2 | 1 | - | 49 | 16 |
| Wakefield Road Recreation Ground | 13 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 81 | 42 |
| Rock House Recreation Ground | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | 27 | 14 |
| Caulms Wood Recreation Ground | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | 11 | 7 |
| Holroyd Park | 35 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 67 | 34 |
| Dewsbury Cemetery | 15 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 33 | 14 |
| Crow Nest Park | 11 | 7 | 17 | - | 31 | 28 |
| Dewsbury Country Park | 22 | 3 | 15 | - | 78 | 27 |
Recent Crimes in Dewsbury
The 20 most recent crime reports in Dewsbury.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Hawthorn Court | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near James Street | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Overthorpe Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Hawthorn Court | |
| April 2026 | Other crime | On or near Hostingley Lane | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Ripon Road | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Savile Grove | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Morton Grove | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Bank Grove | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Goods Lane | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Beckett Grove | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Highgate Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Walnut Drive | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Duke Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Ripon Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Matterdale Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Pinfold Hill | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Fairfield Mews | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Hawthorn Court |
Methodology & Data Sources
Dewsbury 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 Dewsbury during July 2026 will typically become available in September 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.
Dewsbury Data Points
For Dewsbury, 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 E63000970.
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 Dewsbury's daytime - or "workday" - population of 56,151 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 Dewsbury