Crime in Cheltenham

Police.uk reported crime in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Category breakdown, 24-month trend, and postcode-district hot and cold spots within the town.

Incidents reported (12m)
10,090
+7.3% vs prior year
Window
Nov 2024 – Oct 2025
Police.uk reports ~2 months in arrears.
Refreshed
7 May 2026

Crime in Cheltenham by category

Last 12 months, all 14 Police.uk categories. Bars are scaled to the largest category in Cheltenham.

Category Incidents % of mix Volume
Violence and sexual offences 2,814 27.9%
Anti-social behaviour 2,251 22.3%
Criminal damage and arson 772 7.7%
Vehicle crime 769 7.6%
Public order 753 7.5%
Other theft 698 6.9%
Burglary 525 5.2%
Shoplifting 501 5.0%
Other crime 276 2.7%
Drugs 250 2.5%
Bicycle theft 221 2.2%
Robbery 114 1.1%
Possession of weapons 94 0.9%
Theft from the person 52 0.5%

Where Cheltenham's crime mix differs from the UK

Top 5 categories where Cheltenham's 12-month share differs most from the national average. Percentage-point delta. Positive means more concentrated in Cheltenham than the UK as a whole.

Category Cheltenham UK Delta
Anti-social behaviour 22.3% 16.3% +6.0 pp
Violence and sexual offences 27.9% 31.7% -3.8 pp
Drugs 2.5% 4.0% -1.5 pp
Criminal damage and arson 7.7% 9.0% -1.3 pp
Shoplifting 5.0% 3.8% +1.2 pp

Monthly incident volume

Nov 2023 to Oct 2025. Police.uk publishes ~2 months in arrears.

936 468 0 Nov 2023 Oct 2024 Oct 2025
Monthly incident volume
MonthValue
2023-11927
2023-12871
2024-01908
2024-02820
2024-03936
2024-04849
2024-05887
2024-06817
2024-07855
2024-08844
2024-09762
2024-10853
2024-11830
2024-12845
2025-01809
2025-02723
2025-03928
2025-04875
2025-05838
2025-06837
2025-07864
2025-08848
2025-09824
2025-10869

Hottest postcode districts in Cheltenham

  • GL50 10,090 incidents (12m)
  • GL51 10,090 incidents (12m)
  • GL52 10,090 incidents (12m)
  • GL53 10,090 incidents (12m)
  • GL54 10,090 incidents (12m)

Quietest postcode districts in Cheltenham

  • 5,835 incidents (12m)
  • GL50 10,090 incidents (12m)
  • GL51 10,090 incidents (12m)
  • GL52 10,090 incidents (12m)
  • GL53 10,090 incidents (12m)

Postcode-district counts use the bounding box of every address in the district, so they're approximate. Treat them as a relative ranking within Cheltenham rather than an absolute count.

What Cheltenham crime data isn't

  • Reported, not actual. Many crimes go unreported. The data reflects what reached Police.uk, not the underlying incidence rate.
  • Locations are obfuscated. Each incident is mapped to a snap point within roughly 250 metres of the true location to protect victim privacy.
  • Force-by-force inconsistency. Different police forces classify and record borderline incidents differently. Comparing two areas covered by different forces needs care.
  • Patrol-density bias. Areas with heavier patrol presence record more incidents, partly because more crime is observed and reported.

FAQ

All incidents come from Police.uk, the official open-data feed published by UK police forces. Data is updated monthly. The figures show what was reported and recorded, not necessarily what happened.
Police.uk obfuscates each incident location to a "snap point", typically the centre of the nearest street or a similar landmark within roughly 250 metres. This protects victim privacy. The category and month are accurate; the precise address is intentionally not.
Read them as one signal among many. Anti-social behaviour and vehicle crime are quality-of-life signals. Burglary trends matter for insurance and security. Raw counts reflect both the actual incident rate and how heavily an area is patrolled and reported, so busy commercial streets always look 'worse' than quiet residential ones.
Police.uk publishes about two months in arrears. So crime for January typically appears in March or April. The 12-month window on this page ends with the most recent month available.

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