Police.uk logged 959 crimes within a mile of central Southend in September, up 10% on a year earlier. Shoplifting rose from 86 reports to 129.

Police recorded 959 crimes within a mile of the centre of Southend in September 2026, up 10% on September 2025. Shoplifting was the biggest riser, from 86 reports to 129.

The figures are the street-level open data that police.uk publishes for each month. We read them for a one-mile radius around the city centre, the same circle we used for August (police.uk street-level crime data). The circle covers the town centre, the central seafront and Prittlewell, roughly, not the whole city. September is the latest month published.

September, three years running

Sep 2024 Sep 2025 Sep 2026
All crime 790 871 959
Violence and sexual offences 342 341 351
Shoplifting 62 86 129
Anti-social behaviour 77 82 126
Criminal damage and arson 50 52 58
Other theft 39 50 56
Public order 60 54 55
Drugs 61 56 49
Vehicle crime 37 33 43
Burglary 17 38 21
Bicycle theft 6 10 16
Possession of weapons 9 20 14
Robbery 9 18 6

The total is up 10% on September 2025 and 21% on September 2024. The changes worth knowing about:

  • Shoplifting rose from 86 to 129, up 50%, and has more than doubled since September 2024. In August it had fallen to 100, so the drop we reported last month did not last.
  • Anti-social behaviour went from 82 reports to 126, up 54% on a year earlier. ASB is recorded by the police but is not a crime, and police.uk gives no outcome for it.
  • Violence and sexual offences barely moved: 351, against 341 a year ago.
  • Burglary fell from 38 to 21, and robbery from 18 to 6.
Bar chart of shoplifting and anti-social behaviour within a mile of central Southend in September 2024, 2025 and 2026: shoplifting 62, 86 and 129; anti-social behaviour 77, 82 and 126.
Chart by Southend Today
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Lower than August

September’s 959 is 18% below August’s 1,173. That is the usual seasonal pattern for a seafront town once the summer crowds go. The fall was steepest for anti-social behaviour, which dropped from 217 reports in August to 126. Shoplifting went the other way, from 100 to 129.

What was recorded in September

Bar chart of crimes recorded within a mile of central Southend in September 2026 by type: violence and sexual offences 351, shoplifting 129, anti-social behaviour 126, criminal damage 58, other theft 56, public order 55, drugs 49, vehicle crime 43.
Chart by Southend Today
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Violence and sexual offences, at 351, are 37% of everything recorded. The category runs from common assault and harassment to the most serious offences, and police.uk does not split it.

Where

Police.uk places each report at the nearest of a fixed set of street points or landmarks, not at the address, so the labels are approximate. The ten locations with the most reports in September:

Location, as police.uk labels it Reports
On or near Parking Area 73
On or near Petrol Station 61
On or near Great Eastern Avenue 48
On or near Supermarket 41
On or near Nightclub 34
On or near High Street 19
On or near Hamlet Court Road 18
On or near Shopping Area 17
On or near York Road 16
On or near Boston Avenue 14

“Parking Area”, “Petrol Station”, “Supermarket”, “Nightclub” and “Shopping Area” are generic landmark labels, and each can cover several sites. Reports placed near “Nightclub” fell from 65 in August to 34.

What happened to the cases

Of the 833 crimes with an outcome field (ASB has none):

  • 322 were still under investigation when the data was published
  • 196 were closed because the police were unable to prosecute a suspect
  • 183 were closed with no suspect identified
  • 101 were awaiting a court outcome
  • 16 ended in a local resolution
  • 9 were passed to another organisation to act on
  • 3 ended in a caution, and 3 were judged not in the public interest to pursue

Outcomes are a snapshot. Police.uk updates them in later months as cases close, so the “under investigation” figure will fall.

What it means for you

These numbers describe the busiest mile of the city, and they are not a rate for Leigh, Thorpe Bay or Shoeburyness. To see your own street, enter a postcode on police.uk, where the same data is mapped.

If you run a shop in the centre, the shoplifting rise is the figure to watch. Essex Police’s neighbourhood teams hold regular drop-in sessions, listed on the Southend Central page. Our parking in Southend guide covers the town-centre car parks.

We publish the police.uk figures for the centre each month when they come out.

Sources