Crime in Tendring: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (6,849), anti-social behaviour (1,716) and criminal damage and arson (1,263) made up 66% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 111th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the upper half.

Recorded crime in Tendring peaked in the year to August 2019 (18,118 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2024 (13,271). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 12%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Tendring recorded notably more possession of weapons (28% above the national rate) and violence and sexual offences (28% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (73% below) and robbery (40% below). On the year before, robbery rose from 81 to 128 and anti-social behaviour rose from 1,125 to 1,716.

What each category covers: crime categories.

12,498 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Tendring in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 79.7 per 1,000 residents, close to the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 2% on the year ending March 2025 (12,809), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Tendring had the 114th 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 Essex Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.9% 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 Tendring is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Tendring, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 2,543 offences (20% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for arson (3.0 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.22 times), robbery of business property (0.39 times) and robbery of personal property (0.48 times).

The largest rises on the year were in arson (+21%) and possession of weapons (+18%). The largest falls were in non-residential burglary (−34%) and bicycle theft (−18%). 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 Tendring 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. Tendring's rate was above the England and Wales rate in 9 of those 14 years and below it in 5. Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

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

Of the 14 districts in the Essex Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Tendring had the 6th 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.

2 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Tendring; the highest is Southend-on-Sea district (114.7 per 1,000) and the lowest Mid Suffolk (41.1).

Of the 50 areas within Tendring, St James had the highest crime rate (301.7 per 1,000) and Kirby Cross the lowest (21.3), 14 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 20% of the crime recorded in Tendring over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (842).

Of the 13,228 crimes in Tendring with a recorded outcome, 30% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 4.7% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 1,716 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Tendring has an estimated population of 156,759 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more retired residents (34%, against 22%), an older population (29%, against 19%) and less social housing (8.2%, against 17.1%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Tendring average decile 3.7 (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.