Dorset council area. Every figure carries its own date.
What the recorded figures show, and what they cannot tell us.
Recorded crime and population
A larger population can mean more recorded offences even when the number of offences per resident falls. Read the total and the rate together.
A checked recorded-crime total and matching population rate for this exact council area are not available in this collection yet. The local mapped records below remain a separate measure.
Can we test the population theory over 30 years?
Only where the offence definitions, recording practices and area boundaries are comparable. Changes in reporting, police recording and the types of crime matter too. We do not join incompatible series or invent missing years.
No verified one-to-one current CSP/authority code relationship; aggregate or split geography requires review
2002/03: Series starts after April 2002 recording-standard introduction; not comparable to pre-2002 records.
2013/14: Offence grouping revision; source back-series retained. Recording practice changes also affect comparisons.
2017/18: Burglary classification changed; broad total retained but detailed groups need review.
2023/24: Burglary subcategories and recording-rule changes require interpretation review.
A comparable 30-year crime-and-population trend has not been established for this area.
For example, if offences rose by 10% while population rose by 20%, offences per resident would fall by about 8%. This is an illustration, not a finding about this area.
People commuting or visiting can also affect offences recorded in a place. The resident population is a useful common denominator, but does not count everyone present.
What could help? Follow the types and locations of repeated problems, check residents’ experiences, and assess the response. Area population totals do not identify who commits offences.
Police-recorded locations for Dorset council area. Locations are approximate; these are not all crimes or a measure of personal risk.
15,472 mapped crimes
September 2025 to August 2026. Compared with 16,876 in the previous 12 months. Anti-social behaviour is counted separately.
Mapped crime over time
September 2024 to August 2026
Dorset council area · mapped crimes
Reviewed figures: September 2024 to August 2026. This reviewed record covers fewer than 30 years, so the chart opens on all of it.
Shown on this chart: 1,393 mapped crimes in September 2024; 1,550 mapped crimes in August 2026. These are recorded counts; check the coverage notes before comparing periods.
1k1.4k1.7k
September 2024August 2026
The line joins consecutive published observations.
Hover or tap the chart for a value. Use the date slider with touch or arrow keys. Escape closes the chart label.
Monthly crime and anti-social behaviour
Recorded locations by month · Dorset
Month
Mapped crime
Anti-social behaviour
September 2024
1,393
363
October 2024
1,656
413
November 2024
1,477
329
December 2024
1,283
275
January 2025
1,288
308
February 2025
1,214
273
March 2025
1,406
393
April 2025
1,488
420
May 2025
1,490
490
June 2025
1,330
463
July 2025
1,519
700
August 2025
1,332
561
September 2025
1,191
374
October 2025
1,299
443
November 2025
1,161
348
December 2025
1,263
323
January 2026
1,212
325
February 2026
1,105
343
March 2026
1,235
441
April 2026
1,322
451
May 2026
1,310
555
June 2026
1,246
543
July 2026
1,578
768
August 2026
1,550
678
Crime categories in the latest complete year
September 2025 to August 2026 · Dorset
Category
Mapped crimes
violent crime
7,663
criminal damage arson
1,615
shoplifting
1,465
other theft
1,337
public order
1,014
burglary
723
vehicle crime
667
drugs
349
other crime
272
possession of weapons
129
robbery
96
bicycle theft
87
theft from the person
55
What these numbers include
Approximate published locations, not every crime or personal risk.
Anti-social behaviour is separate. Transport police and unusable locations excluded.
An empty ward count means no mapped rows in the complete required force files; it does not prove that no crime occurred.
These are retrieved mapped records, not a guarantee of complete crime reporting. Approximate locations and unmapped incidents limit comparisons.
Missing ward-months invalidate totals and changes. Busy centres attract visitors, so residential population is not a measure of the number of people exposed.
