Aylesham is safe, and safer than the district around it. Crime runs well under the Dover area's average. Violence makes up a smaller share of it than it does nationally. The one category that stands out is nuisance. Dover is where the district's crime figures come from, and Aylesham mostly isn't.
Police records for June 2025 to May 2026 put the Aylesham area's crime rate at about 65 per 1,000 residents, from 783 recorded crimes over the twelve months. That published rate sits roughly 28% below the average for the Dover local authority.
For the side-by-side, the Dover area as a whole runs at about 90 crimes per 1,000 residents, against about 65 here. Any listing that says "a safe, established community" is for once making a claim the numbers back up.
The neighbourhood behind those numbers is settled rather than squeezed. Unemployment is about 2%, and about 3% of households are overcrowded. Population density averages about 3,060 people per square kilometre across the area's small statistical zones, a figure that reflects the built-up streets of the town rather than the fields between the villages. That describes the kind of place it is. It explains nothing about who commits crime.
On the mix, violence and sexual offences make up about 34% of recorded crime here, against about 35% across England and Wales. That is in line with the national share, and it is a broad legal category that includes common assault without injury, so it sounds worse on paper than it usually is. The real difference is anti-social behaviour, at about 23% of incidents against about 16% nationally. Shoplifting runs at about 10% against 8%, criminal damage and arson at about 10% against 7%, other theft at about 6% against 7%, and public order at about 4% against 7%. The pattern is nuisance and damage rather than danger, the kind of crime that produces a lot of annoyed posts in a community Facebook group and not many ambulances.
As for what happens after a report, Kent Police charges a suspect in about 16% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which ranks the force 6th of 42 in England and Wales. That is a force-wide figure covering the whole county, not Aylesham's own, and it says nothing about how safe the streets are. It answers a different question: whether someone gets charged. In about 36% of Kent cases the investigation closes with no suspect identified. That is the honest answer to "will they catch them", and it applies here as much as anywhere else in the county.
Safety is one of Aylesham's real strengths. Crime runs well below the district, violence is no more common than it is nationally, and what residents actually deal with is nuisance rather than danger.