Dover, with a medium crime rating, is ranked 10th among 25 nearby boroughs based on its crime rate. In 2023, there were 12,176 crime incidents reported for a population of 116,410, resulting in a crime rate of 104.6 per 1,000 residents, a decrease of 1.82% from the previous year.
The most common crimes in Dover are Violence and sexual offences (43.4%), Anti-social behaviour (13.9%), and Criminal damage and arson (10.1%), with the least common being Robbery (0.6%), Theft from the person (0.5%), and Bicycle theft (0.5%).
Within its 17 wards, Dover’s highest crime rates are seen in Town & Castle (348.7), St Radigunds (228.4), and Tower Hamlets (147.2), whereas the safest wards are Little Stour & Ashstone (51.3), Alkham & Capel-le-Ferne (46.7), and Dover Downs & River (45.6).
In terms of postcode districts within or overlapping Dover, CT16 (183.7), CT17 (148.6), and CT13 (86.0) have the highest crime rates, while CT3 (59.4), CT15 (52.7), and CT4 (49.8) are the safest.
In Dover, there has been a noticeable increase in Anti-social behaviour with an 8.52% rise reported in 2020, alongside upticks in Other theft by 1.63% in 2022, Shoplifting by 2.11% in 2023, and Violence and sexual offences by 2.6% in 2021. Conversely, the area saw a decline in Anti-social behaviour by 8.12% in 2021 and 2.8% in 2022, Other theft by 1.75% in 2020, and Violence and sexual offences by 2.73% in 2023.