Crime in Braintree district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (4,481), anti-social behaviour (1,160) and other theft (777) made up 63% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 251st of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lowest quarter.

The year to August 2026 had the least recorded crime in Braintree district of any year here (10,156 crimes). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 21%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

No category with at least 20 crimes was notably above the England and Wales rate, and theft from the person (87% below) and bicycle theft (73% below) were well below it. On the year before, robbery rose from 35 to 91 and anti-social behaviour rose from 931 to 1,160, while theft from the person fell from 51 to 36 and other crime fell from 295 to 250.

What each category covers: crime categories.

8,750 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Braintree district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 53.3 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 7% on the year ending March 2025 (9,377), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Braintree district had the 48th lowest rate (the street-level ranking above is among the 302 districts with street-level pages on this site, over the 12 months to August 2026).

Of the crimes recorded in the Essex Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.9% were not assigned to a district. Those crimes are counted in the force and England and Wales totals but in no district, so the figure for Braintree district is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Braintree district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 1,595 offences (18% of the total). No category with at least 20 offences had a rate a quarter or more above the England and Wales rate. Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.13 times), bicycle theft (0.21 times) and robbery of personal property (0.38 times).

The largest rises on the year were in robbery of personal property (+30%) and possession of weapons (+25%). The largest falls were in non-residential burglary (−36%) and bicycle theft (−34%). Robbery of business property and shoplifting are not compared with the year ending March 2025: from April 2025 the Home Office Counting Rules were clarified so that a theft from a shop in which violence is used or threatened against staff or anyone else is recorded as robbery of business property rather than shoplifting (ONS).

Recorded crime in Braintree district since the year ending March 2013

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2013 to 2026. Braintree district's rate was below the England and Wales rate in every one of those 14 years. Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

Districts in the Essex Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 14 districts in the Essex Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Braintree district had the 5th lowest rate.

Source: Home Office police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (released 23 July 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. Financial years, excluding fraud; how they differ from the street-level figures: methodology.

5 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Braintree district; the highest is Basildon district (98.3 per 1,000) and the lowest Babergh (46.0).

Of the 41 areas within Braintree district, Braintree Central & Beckers Green had the highest crime rate (135.8 per 1,000) and Stour Valley North the lowest (29.3), 5 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 17% of the crime recorded in Braintree district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (447).

Of the 8,996 crimes in Braintree district with a recorded outcome, 34% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 4.1% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 1,160 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Braintree district has an estimated population of 164,304 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer households without a car (14%, against 23%), fewer students (4.7%, against 7.9%) and less private renting (15%, against 20%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Braintree district average decile 6.0 (1 = most deprived), close to the middle.

Police-recorded crime from data.police.uk (September 2017 to August 2026), ONS population estimates and Census 2021. Definitions and limitations: methodology.