Recorded crime in central Southport fell 10% in the year to August, with burglary almost halved. In Formby, shoplifting reports more than doubled to 163.
Police recorded 4,192 crimes and anti-social behaviour incidents within a mile of central Southport in the 12 months to August 2026. That is 444 fewer than in the year before, a fall of 10 per cent.
Burglary almost halved. Shoplifting fell by more than a quarter. The exception is anti-social behaviour, which rose by a quarter after a spring and summer with the highest monthly counts in two years.
Formby is moving the other way on one measure. Shoplifting reports in the village centre more than doubled over the same year, and August 2026 was the worst month in the two years we checked.
The figures are the street-level data Merseyside Police supplies to police.uk. We downloaded them through the data.police.uk API on 10 October. August 2026 is the latest month published.
A year of change in Southport
One month is a noisy measure, so we compared the 12 months to August 2026 with the 12 months before. Both use the same one-mile circle around the town centre.
| Type of report | Sep 2024 to Aug 2025 | Sep 2025 to Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All reports | 4,636 | 4,192 | down 10% |
| Violence and sexual offences | 1,752 | 1,608 | down 8% |
| Public order | 555 | 483 | down 13% |
| Anti-social behaviour | 361 | 450 | up 25% |
| Shoplifting | 612 | 443 | down 28% |
| Drugs | 419 | 376 | down 10% |
| Criminal damage and arson | 286 | 236 | down 17% |
| Other theft | 206 | 231 | up 12% |
| Burglary | 116 | 61 | down 47% |
| Robbery | 45 | 55 | up 22% |
The rises are small in number. Robbery went from 45 to 55 in a year, so a handful of incidents moves the percentage a long way. Other theft, which covers thefts that are not shoplifting, burglary or from a vehicle, rose from 206 to 231.
Shoplifting: the lowest spring in two years
Southport’s shoplifting reports peaked at about 70 a month in autumn 2024. They have fallen most of the way since:
- September to November 2024: 70, 71 and 70 reports
- March to June 2026: 28, 21, 28 and 23 reports
- August 2026: 37 reports, up from 34 in July
April 2026, with 21 reports, was the quietest month in the two years of data. Of August’s 37 reports, police.uk lists 26 as still under investigation, 3 as awaiting a court outcome and 8 as closed with no suspect identified.
Anti-social behaviour: a busy spring and summer
Anti-social behaviour ran at 20 to 40 reports a month for most of the two years. That changed in spring 2026:
- April: 60 reports
- June: 56 reports
- July: 65 reports, the highest month in the data
- August: 32 reports, back to normal
The summer peak is why the annual total rose by a quarter. Whether August marks a lasting drop will only show in the months ahead.
August on its own
Police recorded 359 reports in August 2026, down from 391 in July and 400 in August 2025. The largest categories were:
| Type of report | August 2026 | July 2026 | August 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violence and sexual offences | 134 | 153 | 161 |
| Public order | 39 | 50 | 57 |
| Shoplifting | 37 | 34 | 35 |
| Drugs | 34 | 20 | 29 |
| Anti-social behaviour | 32 | 65 | 34 |
| Other theft | 27 | 26 | 18 |
| Criminal damage and arson | 20 | 14 | 26 |
The single map points with most reports in August were a car park (25 reports), a shopping area (15) and Glebe Place (14). Police.uk moves every report to the nearest of a set of anonymised points, so these are approximate locations, not addresses.
Formby: shoplifting more than doubles
We ran the same check for a one-mile circle around Formby village centre, about six miles south of Southport.
Formby’s overall total rose slightly, from 943 to 997 reports, up 6 per cent. The change sits almost entirely in two categories:
- shoplifting up from 77 to 163, an increase of 112 per cent
- anti-social behaviour up from 108 to 167, an increase of 55 per cent
Most other categories fell. Violence and sexual offences dropped from 412 to 360, criminal damage from 79 to 49, and vehicle crime from 30 to 17.
Formby recorded 26 shoplifting reports in August 2026, against 7 in August 2025. July, with 23, was the second highest. Before March 2026, no month had reached 16.
Of August’s 26 reports, police.uk lists 16 as under investigation and 6 as awaiting a court outcome. Three were closed with no suspect identified, and in one the police were unable to prosecute a suspect.
The numbers are still far smaller than Southport’s. But the direction is the opposite: Southport’s shoplifting is down 28 per cent over the year while Formby’s has more than doubled.
How to read these figures
- The counts are reports recorded by police, not every crime committed. A rise can mean more offending, more reporting or a change in how reports are recorded.
- Anti-social behaviour is an incident type, not a crime, but police.uk counts it alongside crime, and so do we.
- Police.uk places each report at an anonymised map point, so a one-mile circle is approximate at its edges. Southport’s circle also takes in Marine Lake, the Promenade and part of the beach.
- Totals can be revised when police update records, so a later download may differ slightly.
What it means for you
- Report anti-social behaviour. Merseyside Police takes non-emergency reports online or on 101. Use 999 if someone is in danger or a crime is happening now.
- Formby shops should report every theft. The rise above only exists in the figures because shops reported it, and the figures shape where neighbourhood patrols go.
- Check your own street on police.uk. Enter a postcode to see the local map and your neighbourhood team.
For the wider picture of the town, see our Southport house prices page and the latest Sefton house price figures.
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