East Sussex’s 108 towns, villages, and cities, Eastbourne is the safest significant town; it also ranks among the top 10 most dangerous nationwide. Eastbourne’s total 2023 crime rate was 113 offences per 1,000 residents. Coming in 34% higher than the East Sussex average of 84 per 1,000 daytime population, this contrasts poorly with the general crime rate of East Sussex. Eastbourne is the 48th most dangerous central town in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and the 744th most perilous place among all towns, cities, and villages.
With 15 offences recorded and a crime rate of 0.15 per 1,000 daytime population in January 2023, Eastbourne had the worst crime rate in East Sussex for robbery. Eastbourne residents also suffered in May 2023; East Sussex’s most risky region for shoplifting recorded 201 offences at a rate of 2.0 per 1,000 daytime inhabitants.
With 4,484 crimes recorded in Eastbourne in 2023, a crime rate of 45. Eastbourne’s most often occurring crimes are sexual assaults and violence. This is 1.41 of 2022’s crime rate of 44 and 3.2% more than 4,344 offences projected for 2022. With 98 offences registered in 2023, Eastbourne’s least prevalent crime is stealing from the person, up 15% from the 85 crimes recorded in 2022.
New statistics reveal that police recorded a record high number of sexual assaults in Eastbourne over the year to September.
Charity Victim Support asked the police and Crown Prosecution Service to “do better and start delivering justice” since the increase in sexual assaults results from victims’ faith in the criminal justice system failing.
From 369 during the previous 12 months and the highest since analogous data started in the year to September 2007, Office for National Statistics reports indicating Sussex Police registered 414 sexual assaults in Eastbourne.
Police authorities recorded a record 199,021 sex crimes in England and Wales in the year to September, up 17% on the year before. It was also up 22% compared with the year ending March 2020, before the coronavirus epidemic; crime rates were drastically lower during the lockdown.
Of these, 70,633 (35%) were rapes, a 20% rise over the 59,104 noted in the 12 months to March 2020.
Chief executive of Victim Support Diana Fawcett said: “This enormous increase in documented sexual assaults comes as the percentage of cases receiving justice has plunged to an awful new low.
“The system is in turmoil; charges for rape and sexual offences have been declining drastically for the past six years. We are headed towards total erasing of victims’ faith in the criminal justice system.
“Police and the CPS have a duty to survivors who have experienced life-changing trauma – they must perform better and start delivering justice.”
They were given a “number of factors”, including advances in how police record crime as well as victims being more ready to come forward and report events given high-profile cases and campaigns; the ONS advised “caution” when interpreting the data on sexual offences.
According to Meghan Elkin of the ONS, police-recorded crime numbers are a “better indicator of police activity” than a reliable insight into crime patterns.
Further ONS data reveal that the general national recorded crime count stayed below pre-pandemic levels.
The crime survey for England and Wales projects 9.1 million crimes were committed in the year to September – down 10% from the 10.2 million committed in the year to March 2020, the last complete year before the epidemic.
Police reported statistics showing that 5.5 million crimes (excluding fraud) were recorded in the year to September, which is 13% higher than the 4.9 million tallied the year before. Only the crimes reported by the police count here.
Police recorded 9,338 offences in Eastbourne, an increase of 11% over the 8,408 the year before.
Deputy national head of the Police Federation of England and Wales, Tiff Lynch, said the increase in crime puts “the safety and welfare” of police officers in jeopardy.
“For the public to have the police they deserve, we must be able to retain the experienced officers we have, attract the talented and dedicated individuals we need by offering fair pay, staff levels that do not represent a threat to our officers, and ensure the kit and the support so desperately needed is provided,” Ms Lynch said.
“Overall crime in England and Wales has dropped by 50% since 2010, excluding fraud and computer misuse, and since December 2019, there have been declines in the number of burglaries, cases of serious violence and murder – which are all still lower than before the pandemic,” said Minister for Policing, Crime and Fire Chris Philp.
“But I know much more has to be done, especially regarding safeguarding women and girls. We must halt rape and place more perpetrators in jail. Though massive efforts are underway throughout the criminal justice system, we are beginning to see indications of progress in the charge and prosecution count.”
“We are also working hard to make our streets safer and on track to deliver the pledge to hire 20,000 extra police officers. We are injecting public funds into interventions shown to work, so lowering violent crime, eradicating organised criminal gangs, and so quelling our streets of drugs and antisocial behaviour.”
See who carried out some Eastbourne Sexual Assaults here