Town · East Suffolk

Crime rates in Kesgrave

Kesgrave recorded 1,028 crimes in the 12 months to July 2026. That is 45.5 crimes per 1,000 residents, 50% below the England and Wales average of 91.2. Recorded crime is down 3.7% on the previous 12 months.

45.5 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents, year to July 2026
1,028 offences recorded in the same 12 months
-3.7% change on the previous 12 months
-50% below the England and Wales average

Of the 929 areas in England and Wales with a full year of data, Kesgrave has the 47th lowest recorded crime rate. That is lower than 95% of them. Within East Suffolk it has the lowest rate of the 3.

England & Wales average, 91Kesgrave, 45
Recorded crimes per 1,000 residents. The colours are used throughout this page: the further right, the further above the England and Wales average.

The safest and worst parts of Kesgrave

Neighbourhoods inside Kesgrave, by recorded crimes per 1,000 residents in the year to July 2026, shaded against the England and Wales average. Names are the House of Commons Library's, which are chosen to be the ones local people use.

Neighbourhoods in Kesgrave by recorded crime rate
Neighbourhood Per 1,000 vs England & Wales Offences Year on year
Kesgrave East & Martlesham 58.6 below average 777 -0.1%
Kesgrave West & Rushmere 26.8 less than half 251 -13.2%

Neighbourhoods here are Middle Layer Super Output Areas of around 7,000 residents. Each figure is an average over the whole neighbourhood, and the ones holding a town centre run high wherever daily visitors outnumber residents. How the figures work explains why these areas are used rather than electoral wards.

Shared by people who know it

What locals say about Kesgrave

Nobody has shared a view of Kesgrave yet. The police figures on this page say what was reported; only people who know the place can say what it is like to live there.

Live, work or spend time in Kesgrave?

Answer a few quick questions about what it is really like. About a minute, anonymous, and you can skip any question.

Answers are anonymous, one per person per question, and count for two years. They describe how a place feels to the people who answered, are never mixed into the crime figures, and update on this page within a day. How local views work.

By type of offence

Recorded offences in the 12 months to July 2026, with the change on the 12 months before.

Recorded crime in Kesgrave by offence type
Offence Offences Per 1,000 Share Year on year
Violence and sexual offences 439 19.4 42.7% -5.0%
Other crime 146 6.5 14.2% +39.1%
Shoplifting 90 4.0 8.8% +16.9%
Criminal damage and arson 83 3.7 8.1% -21.0%
Anti-social behaviour 73 3.2 7.1% -4.0%
Other theft 70 3.1 6.8% +18.6%
Public order 53 2.3 5.2% -28.4%
Drugs 27 1.2 2.6% -27.0%
Burglary 21 0.9 2.0% 0.0%
Vehicle crime 14 0.6 1.4% -44.0%
Possession of weapons 6 0.3 0.6% -25.0%
Robbery 2 0.1 0.2% -75.0%
Theft from the person 2 0.1 0.2% -50.0%
Bicycle theft 2 0.1 0.2% -66.7%
All recorded crime 1,028 45.5 100% -3.7%

Home Office recorded crime, data.police.uk. Rates use ONS mid-2024 population estimates (22,605 residents). Categories are the Home Office crime types as published; they are not comparable with court or conviction figures.

What happened to those crimes

Police recorded 955 offences other than anti-social behaviour in Kesgrave in the year to July 2026. By the time this data was published, about 25% had been closed with no suspect identified and 34% closed because a prosecution was not possible or not pursued. Around 18% had led to a charge, caution or other formal action, and 24% were still open.

The widest shortfall against the national picture is for other crime: 3.4% of cases here ended in a charge or other formal action, against 17.0% across England and Wales.

Police outcomes in Kesgrave, latest 12 months
Outcome Share Offences
Closed: no suspect identified 235
Closed: prosecution not possible or not pursued 321
Charge, caution or other formal action 170
Still open or no outcome published yet 229

Outcomes describe where each investigation stood when the data was published, so recent offences are naturally still open and the closed shares will edge up as cases conclude. Anti-social behaviour is left out entirely: police record no outcomes for it, and counting it would quietly flatter every percentage here. "Formal action" spans charges, summonses, cautions, penalty notices and community resolutions.

Outcomes by offence in Kesgrave

The share of cases ending in a charge, caution or other formal action, against the same figure for England and Wales. Offences with fewer than 30 recorded cases here are left out: a percentage of twelve cases moves several points on one decision.

Formal action rate by offence in Kesgrave, against England and Wales
Offence Cases Charged or dealt with England & Wales Difference
Violence and sexual offences 439 23.2% 10.7% +12.5 pts
Other crime 146 3.4% 17.0% -13.6 pts
Shoplifting 90 18.9% 25.9% -7.0 pts
Criminal damage and arson 83 14.5% 8.3% +6.2 pts
Other theft 70 2.9% 2.5% +0.4 pts
Public order 53 20.8% 12.2% +8.6 pts

"Charged or dealt with" counts every outcome that is a formal action: charged, summonsed, cautioned, penalty notice, community resolution. Anti-social behaviour is excluded from both columns because it carries no outcome by design. A low rate is not necessarily a failing of the force here: some offences are far harder to detect anywhere, which is why every row is shown against the national figure for the same offence rather than against the other rows.

Over time

Recorded crime in Kesgrave peaked at 1,544 offences in 2020; the latest 12 months, at 1,028, are about 33% below that peak. That works out at roughly 3 a day.

12-month average Each month
40801201600Covid lockdown86ConCon2011201320152017201920212023Jul 2026
Offences recorded each month in Kesgrave, Dec 2010 to Jul 2026. The coloured strip is the party holding the office that oversees the force; each break in it is an election.
Monthly figures (188 months)
Monthly recorded crime in Kesgrave
MonthRecorded crimes
Jul 2026 87
Jun 2026 93
May 2026 78
Apr 2026 99
Mar 2026 78
Feb 2026 65
Jan 2026 83
Dec 2025 73
Nov 2025 90
Oct 2025 112
Sep 2025 79
Aug 2025 91
Jul 2025 77
Jun 2025 111
May 2025 105
Apr 2025 95
Mar 2025 98
Feb 2025 64
Jan 2025 85
Dec 2024 100
Nov 2024 92
Oct 2024 76
Sep 2024 73
Aug 2024 91
Jul 2024 79
Jun 2024 100
May 2024 89
Apr 2024 97
Mar 2024 98
Feb 2024 61
Jan 2024 78
Dec 2023 72
Nov 2023 91
Oct 2023 90
Sep 2023 91
Aug 2023 112
Jul 2023 79
Jun 2023 100
May 2023 97
Apr 2023 100
Mar 2023 110
Feb 2023 99
Jan 2023 89
Dec 2022 69
Nov 2022 105
Oct 2022 81
Sep 2022 98
Aug 2022 99
Jul 2022 97
Jun 2022 109
May 2022 105
Apr 2022 101
Mar 2022 108
Feb 2022 130
Jan 2022 108
Dec 2021 73
Nov 2021 103
Oct 2021 82
Sep 2021 115
Aug 2021 116
Jul 2021 103
Jun 2021 102
May 2021 113
Apr 2021 80
Mar 2021 120
Feb 2021 81
Jan 2021 92
Dec 2020 127
Nov 2020 149
Oct 2020 125
Sep 2020 150
Aug 2020 139
Jul 2020 159
Jun 2020 145
May 2020 107
Apr 2020 97
Mar 2020 126
Feb 2020 102
Jan 2020 118
Dec 2019 65
Nov 2019 78
Oct 2019 88
Sep 2019 83
Aug 2019 88
Jul 2019 106
Jun 2019 90
May 2019 96
Apr 2019 96
Mar 2019 114
Feb 2019 76
Jan 2019 92
Dec 2018 82
Nov 2018 84
Oct 2018 120
Sep 2018 87
Aug 2018 100
Jul 2018 111
Jun 2018 93
May 2018 81
Apr 2018 91
Mar 2018 84
Feb 2018 92
Jan 2018 110
Dec 2017 84
Nov 2017 115
Oct 2017 112
Sep 2017 109
Aug 2017 88
Jul 2017 99
Jun 2017 99
May 2017 79
Apr 2017 94
Mar 2017 87
Feb 2017 81
Jan 2017 106
Dec 2016 93
Nov 2016 87
Oct 2016 99
Sep 2016 97
Aug 2016 85
Jul 2016 98
Jun 2016 91
May 2016 74
Apr 2016 81
Mar 2016 93
Feb 2016 80
Jan 2016 77
Dec 2015 79
Nov 2015 95
Oct 2015 84
Sep 2015 77
Aug 2015 98
Jul 2015 102
Jun 2015 113
May 2015 113
Apr 2015 79
Mar 2015 108
Feb 2015 70
Jan 2015 83
Dec 2014 85
Nov 2014 108
Oct 2014 119
Sep 2014 127
Aug 2014 96
Jul 2014 96
Jun 2014 111
May 2014 105
Apr 2014 85
Mar 2014 76
Feb 2014 69
Jan 2014 68
Dec 2013 66
Nov 2013 98
Oct 2013 87
Sep 2013 98
Aug 2013 130
Jul 2013 136
Jun 2013 119
May 2013 92
Apr 2013 116
Mar 2013 87
Feb 2013 79
Jan 2013 88
Dec 2012 69
Nov 2012 73
Oct 2012 82
Sep 2012 88
Aug 2012 93
Jul 2012 105
Jun 2012 110
May 2012 80
Apr 2012 84
Mar 2012 107
Feb 2012 97
Jan 2012 100
Dec 2011 79
Nov 2011 95
Oct 2011 87
Sep 2011 119
Aug 2011 124
Jul 2011 125
Jun 2011 147
May 2011 94
Apr 2011 139
Mar 2011 101
Feb 2011 93
Jan 2011 107
Dec 2010 97

Download every month as CSV, including which months each force filed.

Streets and the crime map

The named streets with the most recorded offences in the year to July 2026, beside every mapped location in Kesgrave.

These are not the most dangerous streets. The police snap every offence to the nearest point on a fixed list of anonymised map points, so one point collects everything recorded around a cluster of addresses. A street with a station, a row of pubs or a shopping parade on it gathers the crime of everyone passing through. A point has no resident population, so there is no rate here, only a count.

Streets in Kesgrave with the most recorded crime
Street Relative scale Offences
On or near Peel Yard Kesgrave East & Martlesham 220
On or near The Paddocks Kesgrave East & Martlesham 83
On or near Martinsyde Kesgrave East & Martlesham 70
On or near Carol Avenue Kesgrave East & Martlesham 68
On or near Ferguson Way Kesgrave West & Rushmere 27
On or near Burgess Place Kesgrave East & Martlesham 16
On or near Holly Lane Kesgrave West & Rushmere 11
On or near Brights Walk Kesgrave East & Martlesham 11
On or near Bugsby Way Kesgrave East & Martlesham 10
On or near Histon Close Kesgrave West & Rushmere 9
On or near Rushmere Street Kesgrave West & Rushmere 9
On or near Mead Drive Kesgrave West & Rushmere 8

Compared with nearby areas

Area Relative scale Per 1,000 Offences
Kesgrave 45.5 1,028
Stowmarket 51.7 1,147
Felixstowe 56.5 1,311
Mildenhall 59.0 1,185
Haverhill 73.0 2,011
Bury St Edmunds 81.5 3,363
Sudbury 82.1 1,807
Newmarket 84.1 1,715
Lowestoft 96.1 6,112

Against the rest of the country

In the national table, where 1st is the highest recorded crime rate, Kesgrave was 806th of 902 in January 2011 and is 883rd of 929 today. It has moved 77 places away from the top: recorded crime here has fallen relative to the rest of the country.

1st23246469692920112026rank
Position in the national table of every area at this level, each month. First place is the highest recorded crime rate, so the line is drawn with first at the top: a line that climbs is a place moving up the table, not down it. A place can move without changing at all, because the rank is relative to everywhere else.

Time of year

Recorded crime here peaks in June, about 35% above its quietest month, December.

avgJFMAMJJASOND
Each calendar month against this area's own average month, across every complete year of data. Indexed rather than counted, so a long-term fall does not flatten the shape of the year underneath it.

Crime in context

What deprivation would predict

Across every English district, deprivation explains much of the difference in recorded crime rates. On that relationship alone, Kesgrave's level of deprivation would predict a rate of about 63 per 1,000. It records 45.5, about 27% below it.

How tightly packed it is

625 people per square kilometre, across 36 km². England and Wales averages about 400 people per square kilometre. Density is the usual explanation for a high position in the national crime table: a rate divides the crime of everyone who passes through by the number who sleep there.

Officers to record it

Suffolk Constabulary had 1,430 full-time equivalent officers as at 31 March 2026, 1.82 per 1,000 residents, below the England and Wales figure of 2.42. That is 32% above its low point of 1,087 in 2016. Recorded crime partly measures how much policing there is to record it, so a change in officer numbers moves the figures on this page even when nothing else does.

Officer numbers are full-time equivalents from the Home Office police workforce return, counted across the whole force area. Nothing in this section causes anything on this page: a correlation is not a cause.

Who oversees policing in Kesgrave

Policing in Kesgrave is overseen by the police and crime commissioner for Suffolk Constabulary. Tim Passmore (Conservative) won that election in May 2024. Since that election, recorded crime here is down 2.8% (the latest 12 months of data against the 12 months up to the election).

Councils in England and Wales have no policing powers. The police force covering an area is answerable to a directly elected commissioner, or to the combined authority mayor where that office has taken the role on. The coloured strip under the trend chart shows these terms against the crime line.

The change column reports what recorded crime did across each term, because it is the first thing a reader wants from this table. It is what happened, not what the officeholder caused: recorded crime moves with reporting rules, how a force records what is reported, national policy and a pandemic, and those effects are far larger than anything one commissioner does in four years. The terms spanning 2020 and 2021 in particular contain the lockdowns, which cut recorded crime everywhere and handed the following term the rebound.

Elections to the office overseeing policing in Kesgrave
Election Elected Party Office Crime over the term
May 2024 Tim Passmore Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner -2.8%
May 2021 Tim Passmore Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner -28.5%
May 2016 Tim Passmore Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner +40.6%
November 2012 Tim Passmore Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner -4.1%

These are election results, not terms of office: commissioners resign, die and are disqualified mid-term, and by-elections between the scheduled polls are listed here only where one has been held. For who holds the office today, the force's own website is the authority. The last column compares recorded crime in the 12 months ending at the handover (or the latest data) with the 12 months ending at the election itself; where a monthly return is missing, the window slides by up to four months to the nearest complete one. A dash means the term ran under a year or no complete window exists near it.

Questions

Is Kesgrave safe?

In the year to July 2026, the recorded crime rate in Kesgrave was 45.5 per 1,000 residents. That is 50% lower than the England and Wales average. A recorded crime rate measures what the police recorded, across a whole town. It says nothing about any particular street, and areas with busy town centres, shopping areas or nightlife record more crime per resident because far more people are present than live there.

Is crime in Kesgrave going up or down?

In Kesgrave, the latest 12 months are 3.7% lower than the 12 before. Over the full series, recorded crime here peaked at 1,544 offences in 2020 and the current total is about 33% below it.

What is the most common crime in Kesgrave?

The most commonly recorded offence in Kesgrave is violence and sexual offences, with 439 offences in the 12 months to July 2026 (43% of all recorded crime). The next most common is other crime, with 146.

Where does this come from?

Police recorded crime open data, published at data.police.uk by the Home Office under the Open Government Licence. It covers offences the police recorded, which is not the same as offences committed: crimes that are never reported never appear. Rates use ONS mid-2024 population estimates. How the figures work sets out the calculation, the reporting lag and every known gap.

Figures cover the 12 months to July 2026, the most recent month any force has published; police data arrives roughly two months in arrears.