Darenth is less safe than the rest of the Dartford borough, by a clear margin. That's about 160 recorded crimes for every 1,000 residents. That's well over a third higher than the borough. Shoplifting is unusually high in the mix. Violence makes up a smaller share than it does nationally. The crime here leans towards tills and walls more than people, but there's still more of it than the area's semis would have you guess.
On police.uk, 671 crimes were recorded in Darenth in the year from June 2025 to May 2026, a published rate of about 162 per 1,000 residents. That's roughly 38% above the average for the Dartford local authority. The rate is published on the population of the small statistical areas police.uk uses, so it won't match a figure worked out from the village's own head count.
For comparison, the Dartford borough as a whole runs at about 117 crimes per 1,000 residents over the same year, against roughly 162 in Darenth.
Darenth is more built-up than its fields suggest, at about 4,360 people per square kilometre averaged across its statistical areas. Unemployment is about 3%, and about 7% of households are overcrowded. That's useful background on the kind of neighbourhood these figures describe, and none of it explains the crime rate on its own.
The mix is where Darenth looks different. Violence and sexual offences, a broad legal category that includes common assault with no injury and tops the list almost everywhere, make up 26% of crime here against 35% across England and Wales. Shoplifting is 23%, against 8% nationally. Anti-social behaviour is 22% against 16%, and criminal damage and arson 11% against 7%. Other theft is 5% against 7%, and vehicle crime is level with the national share at about 5%. With nearly a quarter of the total rung up as shoplifting, a fair part of Darenth's headline rate happens at a till, which isn't the worry most buyers bring to a viewing. Darenth covers three small statistical areas, and police.uk maps crime for each one, so check which area your address falls in and how its numbers compare with the other two.
Kent Police charges a suspect in about 16% of the cases it records, against about 12% nationally, which puts it sixth of 42 forces over the same year. About 36% of its cases close with no suspect identified. Both figures are for the whole force, and they describe what happens after a crime, not how likely one is.
Safety is Darenth's weak point. The rate is high for its borough, and the shoplifting share does nothing to make your front door feel safer.