Crime in Charnwood: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (5,082), anti-social behaviour (2,305) and shoplifting (1,488) made up 59% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 180th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lower half.

Recorded crime in Charnwood peaked in the year to August 2022 (16,553 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2020 (14,158). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it rose 3%, 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 (75% below) and robbery (58% below) were well below it. On the year before, robbery rose from 85 to 107 and drugs rose from 261 to 311.

What each category covers: crime categories.

12,795 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Charnwood in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 67.9 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 4% on the year ending March 2025 (13,358), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Charnwood had the 111th 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 Leicestershire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.7% 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 Charnwood is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Charnwood, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was stalking and harassment, with 1,667 offences (13% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for arson (1.8 times the national rate) and bicycle theft (1.3 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.29 times), possession of drugs (0.31 times) and robbery of personal property (0.43 times).

The largest rises on the year were in arson (+41%) and bicycle theft (+24%). The largest falls were in residential burglary (−27%) and vehicle offences (−17%). 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 Charnwood since the year ending March 2023

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2023 to 2026. Charnwood's rate was below the England and Wales rate in every one of those 4 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2023 because the share of crimes in the Leicestershire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 2.4% in the year ending March 2022 to 1.2% in the year ending March 2023, which changes district totals without any change in crime.

Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

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

Of the 9 districts in the Leicestershire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Charnwood had the 2nd highest 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.

2 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Charnwood; the highest is Leicester district (122.3 per 1,000) and the lowest Rushcliffe (55.0).

Of the 39 areas within Charnwood, Loughborough Southfields had the highest crime rate (236.6 per 1,000) and Burton on the Wolds the lowest (30.2), 8 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 17% of the crime recorded in Charnwood over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (565).

Of the 12,824 crimes in Charnwood with a recorded outcome, 43% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 5.2% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 2,305 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Charnwood has an estimated population of 188,385 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more students (13.9%, against 7.9%), fewer households without a car (16%, against 23%) and less social housing (12%, against 17%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Charnwood average decile 7.0 (1 = most deprived), less deprived than average.

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