Stockton shoplifting rose across the borough: what happened?
Shoplifting reports in Stockton-on-Tees more than doubled in the latest year. Here is what the figures show about the town centre and the wider borough.
Stockton-on-Tees has a shoplifting story that depends on where you look.
Stockton Council reported a 17.8% fall in shop theft in Stockton Town Centre over an earlier six-month period. The latest police-recorded figures for the wider borough tell a different story: shoplifting reports rose from 1,954 in the year to June 2025 to 4,206 in the year to June 2026.
The two findings are not contradictory. They cover different places and different periods. A quieter town centre can sit alongside a rise across the wider borough.
Compare local crime information with the places, routes and amenities that shape everyday life.
A sharp rise in recorded reports
Across the wider borough, the number of police-recorded shoplifting reports increased by 2,252 between the two rolling years. The later total is more than twice the earlier one.
That is a large change, but reported crime is shaped by more than what happens in a shop. Retailers may report more consistently, police operations may bring more incidents to light, and repeat offenders may generate several reports. The figures show what was recorded, not every offence that took place or the risk faced by every resident.
The wider borough comparison covered 28 neighbourhoods. Overall recorded crime rose as well, although the biggest change came from reports in the shoplifting category.
The 17.8% town-centre fall and the borough-wide rise cannot be placed on the same chart as though they measured the same thing. One covers a defined retail area and an earlier six-month period; the other covers the wider borough and rolling 12-month periods.
The neighbourhoods with the biggest increases
Mandale & Victoria recorded the largest increase in the comparison, followed by Village and Roseworth. Stockton Town Centre also recorded an increase in the wider 12-month figures, despite the separate council report about the earlier town-centre period.
| Neighbourhood | Change in recorded reports | Later rate per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Mandale & Victoria | +865 | 364.82 |
| Village | +494 | 151.56 |
| Roseworth | +415 | 217.00 |
| Stockton Town Centre | +149 | 607.25 |
| Ingleby Barwick North | +127 | 48.20 |
These are changes in all recorded reports, not a list of shoplifting hotspots. The figures do not identify a particular shop or street, and they do not explain why one neighbourhood changed more than another.
The underlying police locations are approximate and anonymised. They include reported activity around places such as Charles Street, Pearson Way, Thorntree Road and Redhill Road Shops, but they should not be used to identify individual premises.
What could be behind the increase?
Cleveland Police has described retail-crime work involving retailer reporting, evidence packs and investigations into prolific offenders. That may affect the number of incidents that enter the recorded figures, as well as helping to reduce crime in particular locations.
There is no single piece of evidence that explains the borough-wide increase. It may reflect a combination of underlying offending, changes in reporting and police activity. The figures also cannot show that shoplifting moved from the town centre into the named neighbourhoods.
One unusual feature of the wider figures was a rise in reports mapped to locations labelled “On or near Prison”. Those records increased from 267 to 1,375. They were excluded from the neighbourhood comparison so that activity at prison locations did not distort the picture for residential areas. The adjustment reduced the overall increase in recorded reports, but it did not remove the shoplifting rise.
What the figures mean for residents and buyers
For someone choosing where to live, a borough-wide crime story needs context. A neighbourhood can contain a busy shopping parade, a main road or a transport route that attracts visitors from elsewhere. A high rate does not mean every street feels the same, just as a lower rate does not guarantee that no incidents occur.
If Stockton is on your shortlist, look at the places you would actually use. Walk from home to the shops. Check the route to school, work or the station. Visit at different times of day. Then compare the local picture with other practical factors such as housing cost, green space and access to services.
The latest figures point to a clear change in recorded shoplifting across the wider borough. They do not provide a simple verdict on Stockton Town Centre or on every neighbourhood within Stockton-on-Tees.
See the full neighbourhood comparison and the original sources behind this article.
FAQs
Did shoplifting double in Stockton?
Recorded shoplifting reports across the wider borough rose from 1,954 in the year to June 2025 to 4,206 in the year to June 2026. That is more than double the earlier reported total. It does not mean that actual offending or personal risk doubled in every part of Stockton.
Does this prove shoplifting moved out of Stockton Town Centre?
No. The available figures cover different areas and time periods. They show a town-centre reduction in one earlier council measure and a wider-borough increase in a later police-recorded comparison, but they cannot establish that offences moved from one location to another.
Which Stockton neighbourhoods saw the biggest increases?
Mandale & Victoria, Village and Roseworth recorded the largest increases in all recorded reports in the neighbourhood comparison. The figures are not a safety ranking and do not explain the cause of each change.
Sources and notes
This article is based on the Neighbourhood Finder analysis Did Stockton’s shoplifting rise shift beyond the town centre?, published 1 September 2026.
The comparison uses police.uk-derived records for the same 28 Stockton-on-Tees neighbourhoods. It compares July 2024 to June 2025 with July 2025 to June 2026. Records mapped to “On or near Prison” were excluded from both periods when comparing neighbourhoods. Police.uk locations are approximate and anonymised.
The full neighbourhood table, evidence workbook and supporting sources are available with the original analysis.
Use the local data as a starting point, then visit the areas that fit your daily life.