Crime in Crawley: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (5,136), anti-social behaviour (2,852) and shoplifting (1,833) made up 61% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 33rd of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the highest quarter.

Recorded crime in Crawley peaked in the year to August 2024 (16,907 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2022 (14,114). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it rose 8%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Crawley recorded notably more possession of weapons (6.2 times the national rate), shoplifting (75% above the national rate) and drugs (59% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (38% below) and burglary (29% below). On the year before, anti-social behaviour rose from 2,140 to 2,852 and possession of weapons rose from 605 to 740, while bicycle theft fell from 127 to 76 and burglary fell from 394 to 312.

What each category covers: crime categories.

13,538 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Crawley in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 109.2 per 1,000 residents, higher than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 5% on the year ending March 2025 (14,207), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Crawley had the 30th highest 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 Sussex Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.8% 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 Crawley is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Crawley, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 2,272 offences (17% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for possession of weapons (5.5 times the national rate), trafficking of drugs (2.1 times the national rate) and shoplifting (2.0 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.61 times), residential burglary (0.62 times) and arson (0.72 times).

The largest rises on the year were in trafficking of drugs (+87%). The largest falls were in residential burglary (−28%) and rape (−25%). 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 Crawley 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. Crawley's rate was above 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 Sussex Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 13 districts in the Sussex Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Crawley had the 3rd 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.

Of the 14 areas within Crawley, Langley Green & Tushmore had the highest crime rate (381.8 per 1,000) and Maidenbower the lowest (41.0), 9 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 37% of the crime recorded in Crawley over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (2,135).

Of the 13,221 crimes in Crawley with a recorded outcome, 39% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 6.5% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 2,852 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Crawley has an estimated population of 124,008 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more social housing (23%, against 17%), a younger population (13%, against 19%) and fewer retired residents (16%, against 22%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Crawley average decile 5.0 (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.