Crime in East Suffolk: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (6,234), criminal damage and arson (1,523) and anti-social behaviour (1,509) made up 65% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 273rd of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lowest tenth.

Recorded crime in East Suffolk peaked in the year to August 2022 (19,390 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2025 (14,042). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 20%, 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 (84% below) and robbery (79% below) were well below it. On the year before, possession of weapons rose from 139 to 185 and robbery rose from 55 to 70.

What each category covers: crime categories.

12,345 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in East Suffolk in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 49.4 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 3% on the year ending March 2025 (12,724), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, East Suffolk had the 32nd 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 Suffolk Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.3% 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 East Suffolk is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in East Suffolk, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 2,409 offences (20% 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 (0.16 times), robbery of personal property (0.19 times) and trafficking of drugs (0.23 times).

The largest rises on the year were in miscellaneous crimes against society (+29%) and theft from the person (+13%). The largest falls were in trafficking of drugs (−41%) and arson (−21%). 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 East Suffolk since the year ending March 2017

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2017 to 2026. East Suffolk's rate was below the England and Wales rate in every one of those 10 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2017 because too many of the force's crimes in the year ending March 2016 were not assigned to a district.

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

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

Of the 2 districts in the Suffolk Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, East Suffolk had the lowest rate. Babergh, Mid Suffolk and West Suffolk are not in the table because the Home Office publishes each of them jointly with a neighbouring district, as one community safety partnership.

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.

4 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than East Suffolk; the highest is Norwich district (124.7 per 1,000) and the lowest Broadland (39.8).

Of the 57 areas within East Suffolk, Harbour & Normanston had the highest crime rate (187.7 per 1,000) and Rushmere St Andrew the lowest (12.9), 15 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 19% of the crime recorded in East Suffolk over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (705).

Of the 12,826 crimes in East Suffolk with a recorded outcome, 29% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 5.0% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 1,509 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

East Suffolk has an estimated population of 249,664 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has an older population (29%, against 19%), more retired residents (32%, against 22%) and fewer students (4.5%, against 7.9%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up East Suffolk average decile 5.6 (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.