diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7c38043..9ef9118 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to
 [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [Unreleased]
+* Adds support for retrieving crimes within a street-level custom area
+* Retries rate-limited API requests using the response's `retry_after` value
+
 ## [8.0.0] - 2026-09-15
 * Removes support for Node.js 20.x
 * Adds support for Node.js 24.x
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 18e3fd9..ca824a3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,6 +18,17 @@ try {
 }
 ```
 
+To retrieve crimes within a street-level custom area, pass a polygon as
+colon-separated latitude/longitude pairs to `streetLevelCustomArea`:
+
+```javascript
+const poly = '52.629729,-1.131592:52.630729,-1.131592:52.630729,-1.130592:52.629729,-1.130592'
+const data = await UKPD.streetLevelCustomArea(poly)
+```
+
+Rate-limited requests are retried up to three times after waiting for the
+number of seconds returned in the API response's `retry_after` field.
+
 You can find more information by looking at any of the available
 [methods](./src/methods), or the [examples](./examples).
 
diff --git a/examples/js/street-level-custom-area.js b/examples/js/street-level-custom-area.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e992bb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/js/street-level-custom-area.js
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+// obtain a reference to the module
+// when using the module in your project, this line would be
+// const UKPD = require('ukpd')
+const UKPD = require('../../build')
+
+async function main () {
+  const poly = '52.629729,-1.131592:52.630729,-1.131592:52.630729,-1.130592:52.629729,-1.130592'
+  const results = await UKPD.streetLevelCustomArea(poly)
+
+  console.log('there were', results.length, 'crimes')
+}
+
+main()
diff --git a/examples/ts/street-level-custom-area.ts b/examples/ts/street-level-custom-area.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c112d73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/ts/street-level-custom-area.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+// obtain a reference to the module
+// when using the module in your project, this line would be
+// import * as UKPD from 'ukpd'
+import * as UKPD from '../../build'
+
+async function main () {
+  const poly = '52.629729,-1.131592:52.630729,-1.131592:52.630729,-1.130592:52.629729,-1.130592'
+  const results = await UKPD.streetLevelCustomArea(poly)
+
+  console.log('there were', results.length, 'crimes')
+}
+
+main()
diff --git a/jest.config.js b/jest.config.js
index bcfd15e..b4ddf0c 100644
--- a/jest.config.js
+++ b/jest.config.js
@@ -10,4 +10,5 @@ const tsJestTransformCfg = createDefaultEsmPreset({
 module.exports = {
   ...tsJestTransformCfg,
   testPathIgnorePatterns: ['build/'],
+  testTimeout: 120000,
 }
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 5ae1d0d..5ceaa46 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import availability from './methods/availability'
 import categories from './methods/categories'
+import streetLevelCustomArea from './methods/street-level-custom-area'
 import forces from './methods/forces'
 import lastUpdated from './methods/last-updated'
 import stopAndSearch from './methods/stop-and-search'
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ interface StopAndSearch {
 export {
   availability,
   categories,
+  streetLevelCustomArea,
   forces,
   lastUpdated,
   stopAndSearch,
diff --git a/src/methods/street-level-custom-area.test.ts b/src/methods/street-level-custom-area.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..642932d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/methods/street-level-custom-area.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import * as chai from 'chai'
+import * as R from 'ramda'
+
+import * as UKPD from '../'
+
+import { Crime } from '../'
+
+const expect = chai.expect
+
+describe('Street-level custom area', function () {
+  test('should return the expected data structure', function () {
+    return UKPD.streetLevelCustomArea(
+      '52.629729,-1.131592:52.630729,-1.131592:52.630729,-1.130592:52.629729,-1.130592'
+    )
+      .then((data: Crime[]) => {
+        expect(data).to.be.an('array')
+        R.forEach((item) => expect(item).to.be.an('object'), data)
+      })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/methods/street-level-custom-area.ts b/src/methods/street-level-custom-area.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c244de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/methods/street-level-custom-area.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import fetchData from '../utils/fetch-data'
+import { Endpoint } from '../utils/endpoints'
+import { Crime } from '../'
+
+export default async (poly: string, date?: string): Promise<Crime[]> => {
+  const dateParam = date ? `&date=${date}` : ''
+
+  return fetchData(`${Endpoint.STREET_LEVEL}?poly=${poly}${dateParam}`)
+}
diff --git a/src/utils/fetch-data.test.ts b/src/utils/fetch-data.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b15749f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/fetch-data.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import fetchData from './fetch-data'
+
+const response = (data: unknown): Response => new Response(JSON.stringify(data))
+
+describe('fetch data', function () {
+  const originalFetch = globalThis.fetch
+  const originalSetTimeout = globalThis.setTimeout
+
+  afterEach(function () {
+    globalThis.fetch = originalFetch
+    globalThis.setTimeout = originalSetTimeout
+  })
+
+  test('retries after waiting for a rate limit response', async function () {
+    let requests = 0
+    let retryDelay = 0
+
+    globalThis.fetch = async () => {
+      requests += 1
+
+      return response(
+        requests === 1
+          ? { error: 'too_many_requests', retry_after: 30 }
+          : [{ id: 1 }]
+      )
+    }
+    globalThis.setTimeout = ((callback: () => void, milliseconds: number): number => {
+      retryDelay = milliseconds
+      callback()
+      return 0
+    }) as typeof setTimeout
+
+    await expect(fetchData('/test')).resolves.toEqual([{ id: 1 }])
+    expect(requests).toBe(2)
+    expect(retryDelay).toBe(30_000)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/utils/fetch-data.ts b/src/utils/fetch-data.ts
index 78349c8..cdeb604 100644
--- a/src/utils/fetch-data.ts
+++ b/src/utils/fetch-data.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,37 @@
+const MAX_RETRIES = 3
+
+interface RateLimitResponse {
+  error: string
+  retry_after: number
+}
+
+const isRateLimitResponse = (data: unknown): data is RateLimitResponse => {
+  if (!data || typeof data !== 'object') return false
+
+  const response = data as Partial<RateLimitResponse>
+
+  return response.error === 'too_many_requests' &&
+    typeof response.retry_after === 'number' &&
+    Number.isFinite(response.retry_after) &&
+    response.retry_after >= 0
+}
+
+const wait = (milliseconds: number): Promise<void> => {
+  return new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, milliseconds))
+}
+
 // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
-export default async (endpoint: string): Promise<any> => {
+const request = async (endpoint: string, retriesRemaining: number): Promise<any> => {
   const response = await fetch(`https://data.police.uk/api${endpoint}`)
-  return response.json()
+  const data = await response.json()
+
+  if (retriesRemaining > 0 && isRateLimitResponse(data)) {
+    await wait(data.retry_after * 1000)
+    return request(endpoint, retriesRemaining - 1)
+  }
+
+  return data
 }
+
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+export default async (endpoint: string): Promise<any> => request(endpoint, MAX_RETRIES)