West Berkshire holds a medium crime rating, positioned 14th among 25 neighboring boroughs for its crime rate. In 2023, the area reported 11,351 crimes, with a population of 161,447, leading to a crime rate of 70.31 per 1,000 residents—a slight decrease of 1.69% from the previous year.
Leading crime categories in West Berkshire include Violence and sexual offences (38.8%), Anti-social behaviour (10.9%), and Public order (9.0%), with the least common being Theft from the person (0.9%), Possession of weapons (0.7%), and Robbery (0.5%).
The area’s 24 wards show variance in crime rates, with Newbury Central (194.9), Theale (113.3), and Newbury Greenham (112.6) experiencing the highest rates, whereas Downlands (40.0), Tilehurst & Purley (37.7), and Basildon (22.0) are the safest.
Looking at postcode districts within West Berkshire, RG30 (205.6), RG1 (188.3), and RG14 (131.6) feature the highest crime rates, with SN8 (54.4), RG26 (41.4), and RG8 (40.6) being the safest.
In West Berkshire, there was a notable increase in Violence and sexual offences by 3.36% in 2020, 2.71% in 2021, and 4.29% in 2022. Public order offences rose by 4.73% in 2021 but saw a decline of 2.32% in 2023. Other theft decreased by 2.09% in 2020, then increased by 1.55% in 2022. Shoplifting decreased by 1.87% in 2020 but increased by 1.94% in 2023. On the decrease side, Criminal damage and arson dropped by 1.52% in 2020, and Vehicle crime saw a reduction of 1.61% in the same year.