Crime in South Staffordshire: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (2,999), anti-social behaviour (876) and criminal damage and arson (483) made up 64% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 266th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lowest quarter.

Recorded crime in South Staffordshire peaked in the year to August 2023 (7,336 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2021 (5,924). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it was almost unchanged, 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 shoplifting (69% below) and robbery (56% below) were well below it. On the year before, robbery rose from 45 to 69 and possession of weapons rose from 53 to 66, while vehicle crime fell from 543 to 403 and burglary fell from 328 to 278.

What each category covers: crime categories.

5,812 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in South Staffordshire in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 50.8 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 3% on the year ending March 2025 (5,666), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, South Staffordshire had the 35th 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 Staffordshire 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 South Staffordshire is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in South Staffordshire, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was stalking and harassment, with 1,184 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 shoplifting (0.24 times), robbery of personal property (0.34 times) and trafficking of drugs (0.36 times).

The largest rises on the year were in trafficking of drugs (+63%) and possession of weapons (+28%). The largest falls were in vehicle offences (−17%) and other theft offences (−13%). 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 South Staffordshire since the year ending March 2021

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2021 to 2026. South Staffordshire's rate was below the England and Wales rate in every one of those 6 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2021 because the share of crimes in the Staffordshire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 3.1% in the year ending March 2020 to 1.9% in the year ending March 2021, 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 Staffordshire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 9 districts in the Staffordshire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, South Staffordshire 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.

Every one of the 8 nearest districts has a higher crime rate than South Staffordshire.

Of the 35 areas within South Staffordshire, Perton Lakeside had the highest crime rate (96.9 per 1,000) and Perton East the lowest (32.0), 3 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 16% of the crime recorded in South Staffordshire over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (344).

Of the 5,928 crimes in South Staffordshire with a recorded outcome, 27% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 3.7% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 876 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

South Staffordshire has an estimated population of 114,423 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has less private renting (11%, against 20%), fewer households without a car (12%, against 23%) and fewer students (4.6%, against 7.9%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up South Staffordshire 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.