Crime in Thurrock: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (6,359), anti-social behaviour (2,260) and shoplifting (1,859) made up 57% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 94th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the upper half.

Recorded crime in Thurrock peaked in the year to August 2019 (22,603 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2024 (17,166). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 10%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Thurrock recorded notably more vehicle crime (82% above the national rate), drugs (42% above the national rate) and criminal damage and arson (32% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (63% below) and robbery (26% below). On the year before, bicycle theft rose from 84 to 136 and possession of weapons rose from 132 to 187, while other crime fell from 410 to 341.

What each category covers: crime categories.

15,501 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Thurrock in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 85.6 per 1,000 residents, close to the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 2% on the year ending March 2025 (15,216), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Thurrock had the 93rd 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 Thurrock is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Thurrock, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 2,409 offences (16% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for arson (3.9 times the national rate), vehicle offences (1.9 times the national rate) and trafficking of drugs (1.4 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for theft from the person (0.32 times), robbery of business property (0.63 times) and bicycle theft (0.71 times).

The largest rises on the year were in arson (from 113 to 265) and possession of drugs (+40%). The largest falls were in vehicle offences (−13%) and theft from the person (−12%). 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 Thurrock 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. Thurrock's rate was above the England and Wales rate in 13 of those 14 years and below it in 1. 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, Thurrock 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.

2 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Thurrock; the highest is Dartford district (107.0 per 1,000) and the lowest Castle Point (62.3).

Of the 32 areas within Thurrock, West Thurrock and South Stifford had the highest crime rate (216.6 per 1,000) and The Homesteads the lowest (31.7), 7 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 24% of the crime recorded in Thurrock over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Shopping Area” (1,224).

Of the 16,059 crimes in Thurrock with a recorded outcome, 40% 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 2,260 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Thurrock has an estimated population of 180,989 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has a younger population (14%, against 19%), fewer households without a car (17%, against 23%) and more children (23%, against 18%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Thurrock average decile 5.2 (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.