Is MK42 a safe place to live?

MK42 scores 4 out of 10 for safety (above average crime), compared with every postcode district in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Crime severity is 1.1 times the Bedford average.

Is crime going up or down in MK42?

Up 19% over 5 years, from 4,907 recorded crimes a year to 5,839.

How does crime in MK42 compare with Bedford?

Crime severity in MK42 is 1.1 times the Bedford average.

How many burglaries are solved in MK42?

Of 223 burglaries reported in MK42 between September 2024 and August 2025, 7% led to someone being charged or summonsed and 79% were closed with no suspect identified.

MK42Postcode district

MK42 crime rate and crime map

Recorded crime in MK42 is 1.1 times the Bedford average and about the England and Wales average. Over 5 years it has risen 19%. Most of the harm comes from violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences). Police data to August 2026.

Kempston, Bedford. 60,316 residents in 36 neighbourhoods.

Safety in the UK: 4/10Above average crime
Safety in the world: 7/10Low crime
Living: 6.9/10Good
5-year change: +19%more crimes
vs the council: 1.1×the Bedford average

Open on the map

Safety and Living

Safety

What it measures. How serious the crime recorded here is, not how much of it there is. Each recorded crime is weighted by the typical sentence for that kind of offence (the Office for National Statistics Crime Severity Score), so a robbery counts about 76 times a shoplifting offence. The total per resident is ranked against every neighbourhood. 10 means among the safest tenth.

Data. Street-level crime from data.police.uk, September 2016 to August 2026. Weights: ONS Crime Severity Score, year ending March 2025.

Anti-social behaviour is not a crime and has no weight, so it is left out of the score. It is shown on its own line.
The weights come from sentences in 2015-2019 and one weight covers a whole police.uk category: violence includes both minor assaults and rape, and the data does not say which. A town with more serious cases than the national mix is under-scored.
Some forces have missing months (Greater Manchester published nothing after June 2019). We use the months that exist and say so on the page.
A neighbourhood's score is blended with the neighbourhoods around it, because police.uk records each crime at an approximate location, often the middle of a street that sits on a boundary. Three quarters is its own rate, one quarter the average of the neighbourhoods it touches, weighted by residents. Crimes recorded on a map point within 30 m of a neighbourhood boundary are shared equally between the neighbourhoods on each side, because the point usually sits on the boundary road itself. Where the map shows a neighbourhood's score, its own score is shown as well when it differs.
Busy city and town centres are not scored: few people live there and many visit, so crime per resident would mislead.
It counts crimes that were reported and recorded, not every crime. In Scotland there is no Safety score yet; Living covers it.
On the map you can filter by crime type. The filter changes the crime figures, the Safety score and the map colours, and compares with the national figure for the same types.
Crime Rates Map is a guide, not advice. Visit the area before you decide.

Read the full method

Crime severity: 1.1× the Bedford average (about the England and Wales average)

Crime only, by how serious it is. Compared with every postcode district. Higher is safer.

Living

Based on schools, transport, health, supermarkets, weighted by importance. Crime is not part of it. Higher is better.

Crime over 5 years

Up 19% in 5 years Recorded crimes in MK42, anti-social behaviour left out.

What is recorded

Crime severity: 1.1× the Bedford average (about the England and Wales average). 82 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents a year.

Violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences): 60% of the harm here
Burglary: 15% of the harm here
Robbery: 6% of the harm here

"Violence and sexual offences" is 60% of the harm here. It is a broad police category: most of these crimes are assaults without injury, harassment and threats, often indoors between people who know each other, and only a small part are sexual or serious violent offences. Police data does not say which, so each one is weighted at the England and Wales average for the category, which can overstate a quiet residential area.

Anti-social behaviour: 21 incidents per 1,000 residents a year, not scored. Not a crime, so it is not part of the Safety score.

Shops, transport, schools and health

Distances are straight-line, not walking routes. Scores use fixed distance bands, so they do not depend on other districts. Higher is better.

Supermarkets

Good accessScore 8 out of 10

Typical distance to a large supermarket: 1.2 km.
Morrisons Cauldwell Bedford (Morrisons), 720 m from the district centre
Tesco Bedford Extra (Tesco), 2.6 km from the district centre
Sainsburys Kempston (Sainsburys), 2.8 km from the district centre

Transport

Good accessScore 7 out of 10

Typical number of bus stops within 400 m: 4.
Nearest railway station: Bedford St Johns Rail Station, 1.5 km from the district centre
Nearest tram or metro stop: Luton Airport DART Station, 28.6 km from the district centre

Schools

Good schools nearbyScore 7 out of 10

Primary schools within 2 km

Springfield Primary School: Good (graded inspection, 2022), 30 m away
Shackleton Primary School: Expected standard (report card, 2026), 200 m away
King's Oak Primary School: Strong standard (report card, 2026), 210 m away
Balliol Primary School: Good (graded inspection, 2022), 260 m away
Great Denham Primary School: Outstanding (graded inspection, 2024), 1.1 km away

Secondary schools within 2 km

Bedford Free School: Outstanding (graded inspection, 2020), 260 m away
Wixams Academy: Expected standard (report card, 2026), 350 m away
Bedford Academy: Good (graded inspection, 2023), 390 m away
Castle Newnham School: Expected standard (report card, 2026), 1.4 km away

Health

Fair accessScore 6 out of 10

Nearest GP surgery: LONDON ROAD HEALTH CENTRE, 1.7 km from the district centre, CQC rating: Good, rated 2016
Nearest hospital with A&E: Milton Keynes University Hospital, 31.3 km from the district centre

Crime by type

Recorded crimes per 1,000 residents per year, most serious first, not counting anti-social behaviour.

Type	Per 1,000 a year
Robbery	0.9
Burglary	4.7
Violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences)	29.9
Drugs	3.0
Possession of weapons (knives and other weapons)	0.7
Other crime	1.6
Other theft	6.7
Theft from the person (pickpocketing, bag snatching)	0.5
Vehicle crime (cars stolen and broken into)	7.7
Criminal damage and arson (vandalism)	7.9
Public order	7.3
Bicycle theft	1.9
Shoplifting	9.0

How often crimes lead to a charge

In MK42, 12% of crimes reported between September 2024 and August 2025 led to someone being charged or summonsed (England and Wales: 9%).

Charged or summonsed
Caution or other action
Suspect found, not prosecuted
No suspect identified
Still open

Show as a table

Type	Crimes	Charged or summonsed	Caution or other action	Suspect found, not prosecuted	No suspect identified	Still open
Violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences)	2,198	10%	7%	70%	10%	4%
Shoplifting	1,010	24%	1%	8%	66%	0%
Public order	491	13%	2%	56%	27%	2%
Criminal damage and arson (vandalism)	461	7%	3%	37%	51%	1%
Vehicle crime (cars stolen and broken into)	412	2%	0%	9%	87%	1%
Other theft	380	2%	1%	25%	71%	2%
Drugs	226	36%	23%	24%	11%	6%
Burglary	223	7%	1%	13%	79%	0%
Other crime	143	16%	10%	54%	10%	10%
Bicycle theft	103	2%	1%	9%	87%	1%
Possession of weapons (knives and other weapons)	63	33%	3%	52%	6%	5%
Robbery	54	11%	0%	52%	35%	2%

Uses the latest outcome police have recorded so far. 3% of these crimes are still open, so the final figures may be a little higher.

Road collisions

MK42, 2023 to 2025: 116 road collisions a year with someone hurt, 25 of them with someone killed or seriously injured. 3 collisions were fatal in those 3 years.

1.9 a year per 1,000 residents (Great Britain 1.5). 22% of them killed or seriously injured someone (Great Britain 26%).

Collisions on public roads that the police recorded where someone was hurt, counted where they happened, so busy through roads and town centres with few residents come out high. Serious and slight use the Department for Transport's adjusted severity, comparable between police forces. Source: Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.

Trend over the years

Crime severity per resident (sentence-days of the crimes recorded each year). Hatched bars are years with fewer than twelve months of data for most residents.

Last 12 months: 17.4 against a 10-year average of 14.7, 19% higher.

Questions about crime in MK42

Is MK42 a safe place to live?: MK42 scores 4 out of 10 for safety (above average crime), compared with every postcode district in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Crime severity is 1.1 times the Bedford average.
Is crime going up or down in MK42?: Up 19% over 5 years, from 4,907 recorded crimes a year to 5,839.
What is the most common crime in MK42?: The most common recorded crime is violence and sexual offences (assaults, harassment, sexual offences), about 30 per 1,000 residents a year.
How does crime in MK42 compare with Bedford?: Crime severity in MK42 is 1.1 times the Bedford average.
How often does crime lead to a charge in MK42?: In MK42, 12% of crimes reported between September 2024 and August 2025 led to someone being charged or summonsed (England and Wales: 9%). 38% were closed without a suspect being identified.
How many burglaries are solved in MK42?: Of 223 burglaries reported in MK42 between September 2024 and August 2025, 7% led to someone being charged or summonsed and 79% were closed with no suspect identified.

Towns

Council: Bedford