Crime in Dudley: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (11,344), shoplifting (3,157) and vehicle crime (2,199) made up 63% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 178th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lower half.

The year to August 2026 had the least recorded crime in Dudley of any year here (26,676 crimes). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it was almost unchanged, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Dudley recorded notably more possession of weapons (73% above the national rate) and vehicle crime (33% above the national rate), and notably less anti-social behaviour (82% below) and bicycle theft (78% below). On the year before, drugs rose from 541 to 629, while anti-social behaviour fell from 2,219 to 923 and bicycle theft fell from 80 to 61.

What each category covers: crime categories.

24,742 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Dudley in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 74.5 per 1,000 residents, close to the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 1% on the year ending March 2025 (25,117), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Dudley had the 129th 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 West Midlands Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.2% 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 Dudley is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Dudley, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 4,244 offences (17% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for possession of weapons (1.6 times the national rate), vehicle offences (1.4 times the national rate) and residential burglary (1.3 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.18 times), trafficking of drugs (0.23 times) and bicycle theft (0.23 times).

The largest rises on the year were in possession of drugs (+25%) and other sexual offences (+19%). The largest falls were in robbery of personal property (−30%) and trafficking of drugs (−19%). 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 Dudley since the year ending March 2022

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2022 to 2026. Dudley's rate was above the England and Wales rate in 1 of those 5 years and below it in 4. The series starts in the year ending March 2022 because the share of crimes in the West Midlands Police area not assigned to a district moved from 0.0% in the year ending March 2021 to 3.6% in the year ending March 2022, 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 West Midlands Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 7 districts in the West Midlands Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Dudley had the 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.

6 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Dudley; the highest is Birmingham district (123.9 per 1,000) and the lowest South Staffordshire (59.5).

Of the 31 areas within Dudley, Brierley Hill & Wordsley South had the highest crime rate (159.8 per 1,000) and Norton the lowest (40.3), 4 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 19% of the crime recorded in Dudley over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (1,223).

Of the 25,753 crimes in Dudley with a recorded outcome, 36% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 6.7% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 923 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Dudley has an estimated population of 331,930 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has less private renting (14%, against 20%), more residents with no qualifications (23%, against 18%) and fewer residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (25%, against 34%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Dudley average decile 5.1 (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.