Crime in Fenland: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (3,908), anti-social behaviour (1,795) and criminal damage and arson (810) made up 68% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 128th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the upper half.

Recorded crime in Fenland peaked in the year to August 2022 (9,734 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2019 (8,947). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it rose 6%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Fenland recorded notably more other crime (49% above the national rate) and possession of weapons (37% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (73% below) and robbery (66% below). On the year before, drugs rose from 210 to 303, while vehicle crime fell from 374 to 267 and shoplifting fell from 572 to 421.

What each category covers: crime categories.

7,846 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Fenland in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 74.8 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 (7,937), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Fenland had the 127th 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 Cambridgeshire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.5% 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 Fenland is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Fenland, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 1,670 offences (21% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for arson (1.9 times the national rate), miscellaneous crimes against society (1.5 times the national rate) and non-residential burglary (1.3 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.20 times), robbery of personal property (0.46 times) and vehicle offences (0.54 times).

The largest rises on the year were in trafficking of drugs (from 48 to 106) and arson (+51%). The largest falls were in vehicle offences (−43%) and bicycle theft (−30%). 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 Fenland since the year ending March 2019

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2019 to 2026. Fenland's rate was below the England and Wales rate in every one of those 8 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2019 because the share of crimes in the Cambridgeshire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 0.2% in the year ending March 2018 to 2.0% in the year ending March 2019, 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 Cambridgeshire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 6 districts in the Cambridgeshire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Fenland 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.

3 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Fenland; the highest is Peterborough district (125.9 per 1,000) and the lowest South Cambridgeshire (59.1).

Of the 31 areas within Fenland, Wisbech South had the highest crime rate (226.1 per 1,000) and Coates and Eastrea the lowest (40.1), 6 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 15% of the crime recorded in Fenland over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (322).

Of the 7,730 crimes in Fenland with a recorded outcome, 28% 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 1,795 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Fenland has an estimated population of 104,896 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer students (4.1%, against 7.9%), fewer residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (19%, against 34%) and more residents with no qualifications (26%, against 18%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Fenland average decile 4.0 (1 = most deprived), more 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.