Public access to policing data for England and Wales.
Council area
Dorset crime rate and statistics (council area)
Updated October 2026.
Police published 21,081 street-crime records for the Dorset council area from September 2025 to August 2026. That is 3.9% fewer than in the 12 months before. The rate is 55.5 per 1,000 residents counted in the Census 2021, against 73.1 for Dorset Police. A residents-only rate reads high where many people visit. Police locations are approximate.
These figures cover the whole area Dorset council runs. Its boundary can differ from the place people call Dorset: it can take in other towns and villages, and part of a town can sit in a neighbouring council area.
September 2025 to August 2026. Street-crime records include anti-social behaviour.
Street-crime records
21,081
Latest month (August 2026)
2,228
Year-on-year
-3.9%
Month-by-month totals
2,3480
1.6k
Sep
1.7k
Oct
1.5k
Nov
1.6k
Dec
1.5k
Jan
1.4k
Feb
1.7k
Mar
1.8k
Apr
1.9k
May
1.8k
Jun
2.3k
Jul
2.2k
Aug
Striped bars: only some of the forces here published that month, so its count is incomplete. The table names the force.
Show as a table
Month
Street-crime records
September 2025
1,565
October 2025
1,745
November 2025
1,512
December 2025
1,586
January 2026
1,540
February 2026
1,449 (Partly published: Gloucestershire Constabulary did not publish)
March 2026
1,675 (Partly published: Gloucestershire Constabulary did not publish)
April 2026
1,774 (Partly published: Gloucestershire Constabulary did not publish)
May 2026
1,870 (Partly published: Gloucestershire Constabulary did not publish)
June 2026
1,789 (Partly published: Gloucestershire Constabulary did not publish)
July 2026
2,348 (Partly published: Gloucestershire Constabulary did not publish)
August 2026
2,228 (Partly published: Gloucestershire Constabulary did not publish)
Street-crime records per 1,000 residents
Published street-crime records (including anti-social behaviour), September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 usual residents in the Census 2021.
Dorset council area
55.5
Dorset Police
73.1
Residents are the Census 2021 usual residents of every postcode the ONS Postcode Directory places in this council area, added up by CrimeMapsUK from the census postcode counts. Records are assigned through the same postcodes, so both numbers cover the same ground. The total can differ slightly from the council's official population.
21,081 records and 379,618 residents. Residents-only rates overstate crime where many people visit who do not live there, such as city centres, stations, and retail parks. Residents are counted at March 2021 while records are current, so areas with many newer homes can read higher.
No England and Wales comparison is shown, because not every force involved has published every month of this window.
Rates cover England and Wales only. Residents: Office for National Statistics, Census 2021 postcode estimates, Open Government Licence v3.0. How rates are built.
Which parts of Dorset have the lowest and highest published crime rates?
We don't label places safe or unsafe, because published police records can't show that. These are published street-crime records per 1,000 residents counted in the Census 2021, as each area's own page and the crime rate rankings gave them on 31 October 2026. A residents-only rate reads high where many people visit and few live, such as a town centre. Areas with fewer than 5,000 residents, and areas whose own page withholds a rate, are not ranked. How rankings are built.
Postcode sectors
Of the 40 postcode sectors mostly in Dorset with a ranked rate, DT2 9 has the lowest, 21.3 per 1,000 residents, and DT4 7 the highest, 127.1, September 2025 to August 2026.
Of the 19 postcode districts mostly in Dorset with a ranked rate, BH31 has the lowest, 26.2 per 1,000 residents, and DT4 the highest, 118.6, September 2025 to August 2026.
Share of the Dorset council area's records in the same trailing window. The black line on each bar marks the England and Wales share for the same months.
Violence and sexual offences36.4%
7,667 records · England and Wales 35.5%
Anti-social behaviour26.6%
5,599 records · England and Wales 15.7%
Criminal damage and arson7.7%
1,616 records · England and Wales 7.0%
Shoplifting6.9%
1,465 records · England and Wales 8.7%
Other theft6.4%
1,339 records · England and Wales 6.7%
Public order4.8%
1,014 records · England and Wales 6.9%
Burglary3.4%
724 records · England and Wales 3.7%
Vehicle crime3.2%
668 records · England and Wales 5.1%
Where records cluster in the Dorset council area
Held back: the Dorset council area's postcodes spread so far that even the crime map's zoomed-out hexagons would draw too small on a phone to read as areas. Explore the Dorset council area on the crime map.
Year by year
Calendar-year totals for the Dorset council area (December 2013 to August 2026).
A council area follows the council's boundary (ONS local authority district E06000059), which can differ from the place people call Dorset.
Published locations are approximate, and each record counts for the council area of its nearest postcode, using the council codes in the ONS Postcode Directory. Counts near the boundary are indicative.
These are counts of published police records, not all crime, and not a safety score.
Other sites can show a different figure for Dorset. These counts include anti-social behaviour, cover the 12 published months shown, and assign each record by its nearest postcode. The rate divides by Census 2021 residents of the same postcodes, not by a later mid-year population estimate.
Districts with a page and at least 5% of their live postcodes in this council area. A district can cross a council boundary, so its page counts records on both sides.