Down Crime Statistics
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The overall crime rate in Down as of April 2026 is 29 crimes per 1,000 people, and the most common crimes are violence and sexual offences, with reports coming from roughly every 14 out of 1,000 daytime population.
Comparing Down's larger towns and cities, and using Crime Risk Scores - which are calculated by taking severity of each crime type into account - Newry is the most dangerous. The next most dangerous is Newcastle, and Downpatrick comes in as third most dangerous. There are safer parts of Down, identified using the same Crime Risk measurement, starting with Warrenpoint and Burren which ranks as the safest area in Down, followed up by Holywood in second place, and Metropolitan Castlereagh in third place.
Down Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Down represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.
Use Crime Map
Hover over a point to see a breakdown of crime types recorded at that location. You can also filter by individual crime types, or use a combinations of offences to visualise the data you need.
Introduction to Down's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Down up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Down's 10,816 postcodes using three area sizes for comparison:
- Within a Five-Minute Walk
- Within a Ten-Minute Walk
- Within a Fifteen-Minute Walk
Individual crime risk scores and index figures are for the 12-month period ending April 2026 unless otherwise stated.
Crime Risk Scores
Down • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Down has a crime risk score of 311. This is based on analysis of 10,816 nearby areas within Down, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.
Crime risk scores are on a scale of 1 to 1,000 and consider the severity of the crimes involved, as determined by sentencing guidelines. A score of 1 represents the lowest risk, and 1,000 the highest risk. This approach ensures that - unlike overall crime rate figures - bicycle theft is not given the same importance in Down's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Down, crime risk scores are typically around 311, while in Northern Ireland they are average 344.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 292 (306 for Northern Ireland), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 266 (Northern Ireland 270).
Trends in Crime Risk
Down
Calculated via Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess, the Seasonality Adjusted line represents the original data with seasonality subtracted, and the Trend line has been plotted unadjusted. Overall trend direction has been identified using the Mann-Kendall trend test, and rate calculated from the slope of the best-fit line identified from linear regression.
The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 28% in Down's crime risk score. This is potentially a strong signal of how the crime risk is evolving. Cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Down's crime risk score is down by 12%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
Over the last year, Down's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 2.2%, indicating that the risk profile is going down. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Down
The CrimeRate Index shows how crime rates compare against the national average.
1.0 equals the average
2.0 is double
3.0 triple
0.5 is half and
0.25 a quarter.
Highest Crime Rates
Down • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Excluding other crime and other theft because their geographic location is often not relevant, anti-social behaviour as its definition is too wide, and bicycle theft for its specificity.
Drugs offences have a crime rate of 2.18 reports per 1,000 people in Down, which is 0.71 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 1,611 crime reports logged by Police Service of Northern Ireland during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Police Service of Northern Ireland recorded 3,022 reports of Criminal Damage and Arson in Down, resulting in a crime rate of 4.13 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 0.66.
The crime rate for Possession of Weapons is 0.46 times the national average at 0.39 reports per 1,000. This is from 297 crime reports reported to Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Down
Excluding other crime and other theft, anti-social behaviour, and bicycle theft, and calculated with the same STL method described in Trends in Crime Risk, using CrimeRate Index figures to identify crime types that are trending above or below the national average, and the analysis timeframe limited to the last three years.
No significant increases identified.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Down
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Shoplifting offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.50 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.66 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 24% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.47 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.50 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 6% over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.70 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.84 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 17% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Down • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Down | Northern Ireland | Police Service of Northern Ireland | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 11,076 | 15.08 | 1.07 | 43,885 | 17.62 | 1.25 | 43,936 | 17.59 | 1.24 |
| Bicycle Theft | 78 | 0.10 | 0.14 | 428 | 0.15 | 0.21 | 428 | 0.15 | 0.21 |
| Burglary | 633 | 0.86 | 0.27 | 2,573 | 1.02 | 0.33 | 2,575 | 1.02 | 0.33 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 3,022 | 4.13 | 0.66 | 12,926 | 5.19 | 0.83 | 12,942 | 5.18 | 0.82 |
| Drugs | 1,611 | 2.18 | 0.71 | 7,582 | 3.03 | 0.98 | 7,597 | 3.03 | 0.98 |
| Other Crime | 680 | 0.93 | 0.50 | 3,080 | 1.23 | 0.66 | 3,082 | 1.23 | 0.66 |
| Other Theft | 1,872 | 2.56 | 0.45 | 7,842 | 3.15 | 0.55 | 7,847 | 3.14 | 0.55 |
| Possession of Weapons | 297 | 0.39 | 0.46 | 1,231 | 0.52 | 0.61 | 1,232 | 0.52 | 0.61 |
| Public Order | 216 | 0.29 | 0.05 | 869 | 0.36 | 0.06 | 871 | 0.36 | 0.06 |
| Robbery | 70 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 468 | 0.19 | 0.16 | 468 | 0.19 | 0.16 |
| Shoplifting | 2,134 | 2.91 | 0.41 | 8,273 | 3.32 | 0.47 | 8,276 | 3.31 | 0.46 |
| Theft From the Person | 37 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 295 | 0.12 | 0.08 | 295 | 0.12 | 0.08 |
| Vehicle Crime | 425 | 0.57 | 0.13 | 2,067 | 0.83 | 0.19 | 2,069 | 0.83 | 0.19 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 10,199 | 13.90 | 0.46 | 41,940 | 16.83 | 0.55 | 41,989 | 16.83 | 0.55 |
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Total Crime by Year
Down | Northern Ireland | Police Service of Northern Ireland | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 21,274 | 28.96 | 0.40 | 89,574 | 35.94 | 0.50 | 89,671 | 35.91 | 0.50 |
| 2025 | 22,178 | 30.15 | 0.41 | 93,985 | 37.72 | 0.51 | 94,062 | 37.70 | 0.51 |
| 2024 | 23,563 | 32.06 | 0.43 | 100,335 | 40.25 | 0.53 | 100,417 | 40.22 | 0.53 |
| 2023 | 25,967 | 35.20 | 0.45 | 107,639 | 42.99 | 0.54 | 107,759 | 42.95 | 0.54 |
| 2022 | 24,546 | 33.06 | 0.43 | 103,005 | 40.88 | 0.53 | 103,119 | 40.84 | 0.53 |
| 2021 | 21,959 | 29.44 | 0.43 | 91,280 | 36.14 | 0.53 | 91,372 | 36.10 | 0.53 |
| 2020 | 22,837 | 30.63 | 0.41 | 97,350 | 38.54 | 0.52 | 97,432 | 38.52 | 0.52 |
| 2019 | 23,217 | 31.06 | 0.41 | 96,251 | 38.09 | 0.50 | 96,333 | 38.06 | 0.50 |
| 2018 | 23,835 | 31.82 | 0.45 | 93,560 | 37.05 | 0.52 | 93,645 | 37.02 | 0.52 |
| 2017 | 24,097 | 32.15 | 0.50 | 95,010 | 37.52 | 0.59 | 95,076 | 37.49 | 0.59 |
| 2016 | 8,042 | 10.71 | 0.56 | 31,832 | 12.57 | 0.66 | 31,857 | 12.55 | 0.66 |
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The Down Streets With The Highest Crime Counts
Each police crime report that CrimeRate receives has a street name automatically assigned to it by the police data team, and this table uses the coordinates to count crimes, rather than the street name alone. That way, if Down has multiple identical street names - which is not unusual - they will be treated separately by CrimeRate's systems.
| Street | Crime Count | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saintfield Road Metropolitan Castlereagh | 46 | ||||||||
| Newry | 38 | ||||||||
| Bangor | 36 | ||||||||
| Cypress Crescent Donaghadee | 32 | ||||||||
| West Street Newtownards | 31 | ||||||||
| Market Street Downpatrick | 28 | ||||||||
| Straiddorn Green Comber | 27 | ||||||||
| Burnview Terrace Banbridge | 25 | ||||||||
| Dock Street Warrenpoint and Burren | 24 | ||||||||
| Bryansford Avenue Newcastle | 24 | ||||||||
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Town and City Comparison
| Town / City | Crime Count | Crime Rate | CrimeRate Index | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newry | 2,332 | 63.25 | 0.93 | ||||||
| Newcastle | 548 | 57.85 | 1.00 | ||||||
| Downpatrick | 853 | 56.44 | 0.90 | ||||||
| Banbridge | 1,011 | 46.39 | 0.76 | ||||||
| Newtownards | 1,595 | 44.44 | 0.67 | ||||||
| Warrenpoint and Burren | 308 | 30.87 | 0.60 | ||||||
| Bangor | 2,202 | 30.33 | 0.45 | ||||||
| Metropolitan Castlereagh | 1,767 | 25.86 | 0.38 | ||||||
| Holywood | 313 | 22.90 | 0.41 | ||||||
| Comber | 235 | 21.04 | 0.44 | ||||||
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