Botley is a little less safe than a settled Hampshire village is assumed to be. The published crime rate runs at about 82 per thousand, which sits roughly 23 per cent above the wider Eastleigh average of around 67. Over the past year that worked out at roughly 630 recorded crimes. None of that makes it somewhere to cross off a list. It makes it a place whose figures run warmer than its quiet-village reputation expects, and the honest version of the answer starts by admitting that.
The number to hold onto is the comparison, not the raw total. A rate of about 82 per thousand against a borough average near 67 is the meaningful signal: Botley records more crime than the typical patch across Eastleigh, by a margin worth noticing rather than one worth panicking over. Both of those are published rates built on statistical areas, so the sensible move is to read them side by side rather than to grab the year's crime count and divide it by the number of people who live here. That home-made sum uses a different population base and produces a scarier figure than the real one. The reputation of a place and its recorded figures are two different things, and here the figures are the ones telling the truth. People buy the postcard and are surprised by the police map, which is the wrong way round.
Botley comes out below average on safety, and the reason is plain: its recorded crime runs about a quarter higher than the borough as a whole. Not a place to fear, but not the sleepy village the estate agent is selling either.