Crime in Portsmouth: What the Numbers Really Say

Portsmouth has a reputation for being lively, noisy and occasionally a bit rough around the edges. But how safe is the city in reality, and what does the latest evidence tell us about crime on Portsea Island?

Portsmouth is one of the most closely studied cities in the country when it comes to crime and community safety. Local partners from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary to Portsmouth City Council and the University of Portsmouth produce a steady stream of data, surveys and research on everything from street violence to cyber-fraud.

Taken together, that research paints a picture that is more nuanced than many headlines: overall crime has levelled off, some offences are falling, others are rising, and people’s fear of crime does not always match the risks they actually face.

This feature looks at what is happening on the ground, what residents say they are experiencing, and how Portsmouth is trying to keep people safe.

Is crime in Portsmouth going up or down?

Police recorded just over 25,000 crimes in Portsmouth in 2023/24, an 8% reduction compared with the previous year. Over the longer term, recorded crime rose through much of the 2010s before flattening out, a pattern that broadly mirrors the national picture.

When analysts compare police data with hospital admissions, local surveys and national figures, they conclude that overall levels of crime in Portsmouth have probably been fairly stable over the last decade. Much of the apparent rise and fall is down to changes in how offences are recorded, rather than a dramatic surge or collapse in offending.

On the Police.uk “compare your area” tool, Portsmouth’s crime rate in the year to June 2025 sits roughly in line with similar urban areas, but higher than the average for the wider Hampshire force area.

So, Portsmouth is not an outlier nationally, but nor is it a low-crime outpost. For a compact, densely populated island city with a big night-time economy and a large student population, the figures are about what you would expect.

What types of crime are most common?

The most common police-recorded offences in Portsmouth are violence and sexual offences. In 2025, there were more than 11,000 such offences, a rate of around 49 incidents per 1,000 residents, slightly higher than the year before.

Other frequently recorded crimes include:

• Shoplifting and other thefts, especially around major retail hubs such as Commercial Road, Cascades and Gunwharf Quays, with shoplifting up around 39% on the previous year.

• Anti-social behaviour (ASB) and public order offences – everything from noisy neighbours and vehicle nuisance to street drinking and disorder.

• Vehicle crime, criminal damage and arson remain relatively stable over time.

The city centre stands out in the data for serious violence, particularly around Commercial Road and the Guildhall area. Serious incidents peak at weekends and in the evening, reflecting links to the night-time economy, although there is also a noticeable spike between school-leaving time and early evening, when suspects are often teenagers.

What are residents actually experiencing?

Every two years, trained University of Portsmouth students fan out across the city to carry out the Portsmouth Community Safety Survey – one of the most detailed local snapshots of crime and anti-social behaviour anywhere in the UK.

The 2024 survey, covering more than 1,000 residents, found that:

• Around a quarter of respondents had been a victim of at least one crime in the previous 12 months.

• That figure rises to 35% once online crimes are included, underlining how much offending now happens on screens rather than streets.

• People with multiple disabilities and those who are long-term sick or disabled were more likely to be victims of crime, while residents aged over 65 were less likely to report victimisation.

The most common crimes people said they had experienced were:

• Online fraud (7.6% of participants)

• Threats or intimidation (5.7%)

• Phishing leading to loss of money or data (4.7%)

• Sexual harassment or assault (2.8%)

• Hate crime (2.8%)

In other words, the “typical” crime experienced by a Portsmouth resident in 2024 was not a street robbery or burglary – it was more likely to be an email scam, online fraud, or menacing behaviour.

Anti-social behaviour: visible, persistent, under-reported

Anti-social behaviour is the background noise of urban life, and Portsmouth is no exception. The Community Safety Survey suggests that around six in ten residents witness or experience ASB, and that this has been broadly stable for a decade, even as reports to the police have fallen sharply.

The most common problems people reported in 2023/24 were:

• People using or supplying drugs (15%)

• Traffic issues – motorbike nuisance, e-scooters, rat-runs and inconsiderate parking (12%)

• Groups of people “hanging around” (11%)

While drug-related ASB has dipped slightly since 2019/20, it remains the top concern for residents, followed by traffic issues. At the same time, calls to some council teams have dropped, raising worries that a chunk of ASB is not being reported to any agency at all, which can quietly erode confidence in local services.

Knife crime, youth violence and the night time city

Knife-enabled crime and possession of weapons account for a small proportion of total crime in Portsmouth, about 2–3% of recorded offences, but have been increasing over recent years.

The 2024 survey found that:

• 44% of residents think knife crime is a problem in the city

• 11% had seen someone carrying a weapon in the last year

• 4% had witnessed a knife incident, and 1% had personally experienced one

Police analysis shows that serious violence is concentrated in the city centre, often linked to the night-time economy at weekends. Most suspects and most victims are male, with peak ages in the late teens and early twenties.

At younger ages, the picture is complex: national survey data suggests around 16% of teenagers were victims of a violent crime in 2023, and in Portsmouth, the number of offences committed by children has been ticking up from the low levels seen during the pandemic years.

Cybercrime and fraud: crime without a postcode

One of the biggest shifts in recent years is that more crime now happens online than in any single physical neighbourhood.

Locally, online fraud was the single most common crime type reported to the 2024 Community Safety Survey, and computer misuse offences (such as hacking and online account compromise) have risen sharply in the national Crime Survey for England and Wales.

A University of Portsmouth case study with residents over 60 found that older adults often feel poorly served by generic cyber-awareness campaigns and need tailored, practical advice to recognise and report scams.

More recent research from the university highlights a “hidden epidemic” of fraud anxiety among adults living alone, many of whom receive frequent scam phone calls and messages and feel under constant low-level threat even if they never lose money.

The result is a paradox: concern about online crime is relatively low in surveys, but online offences are now the most common form of victimisation for many Portsmouth residents.

Fear of crime, women’s safety and the city after dark

Feeling safe is not just about statistics, it is about how people experience streets, parks and public spaces in everyday life.

In 2024:

• 38% of survey respondents said they were worried about being a victim of crime, a lower level than before the pandemic.

• Just over half said there are parts of Portsmouth they avoid because they feel unsafe.

• Women were significantly more likely than men to feel unsafe (63% compared with 40%).

For the first time since this question was introduced in 2001, the Commercial Road/city centre area topped the list of places residents avoid or feel unsafe, ahead of Somerstown and Buckland. People were most likely to report feeling unsafe after dark, but a notable minority said they felt uneasy there at any time of day. The main reasons given were groups or gangs, alcohol-related ASB, drug use and dealing, and visible homelessness.

This chimes with wider research on women’s experiences of urban space at night, including work that has used Portsmouth locations as part of creative projects exploring “fear after dark” in UK cities.

When residents were asked what would help, the most common answers were more visible policing, better lighting and CCTV, environmental improvements, more activities for young people, and education and awareness campaigns around safety.

How is Portsmouth responding?

All of this information feeds into the work of the Safer Portsmouth Partnership, which brings together the council, police, health services, probation, fire and rescue, and local charities to agree city-wide priorities. By law, the partnership must produce a regular Strategic Assessment of Community Safety and a three-year plan setting out how it will tackle key issues such as serious violence, domestic abuse, ASB, substance misuse, fraud and exploitation.

Recent priorities have included:

• Targeting serious violence and weapon-enabled crime, especially in and around the city centre

• Responding to domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, including improved data sharing and support services

• Tackling drug-related harm and the exploitation of young people through local drug networks

• Addressing shoplifting and theft in key retail areas

• Improving cybercrime awareness, particularly among older adults and vulnerable residents

Alongside formal strategies, Portsmouth also has a strong culture of academic and community engagement around crime. The University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Criminal Justice Studies contributes local research and runs projects with students in the city, while public events such as CSI Portsmouth and BookFest crime panels have mixed crime fiction with real-world policing and forensic science, helping residents understand how crime is investigated.

So, how safe is Portsmouth?

There is no single answer.

The evidence suggests that Portsmouth is neither uniquely dangerous nor exceptionally safe compared with similar UK cities. Overall, crime has been broadly stable; some serious offences have fallen, and many traditional property crimes are on a long-term downward trend. At the same time, violence and sexual offences remain a major concern, shoplifting has surged, and online fraud now touches thousands of residents each year.

Perhaps the clearest message from the data is that safety is unevenly felt. Women, disabled residents, some younger people and those in particular neighbourhoods carry a heavier burden of both victimisation and fear.

For a city like Portsmouth, compact, creative, and fiercely community-minded, the challenge is not only to reduce the headline numbers, but to ensure that everyone feels able to enjoy its streets, seafronts and night-time venues without looking over their shoulder.

That work is already happening in boardrooms, briefing rooms and residents’ meetings across the island. The question now is how far the rest of us choose to get involved, whether that is reporting problems, supporting local services, or simply looking out for our neighbours as we share this very busy, very human, urban island.