Crime and Safety in Newtownards
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Newtownards is the second most dangerous medium-sized town in Down, and is among the top 10 most dangerous overall out of Down's 48 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Newtownards in 2026 is 44 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to Down's overall crime rate, coming in 53% higher than the Down rate of 29 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Newtownards is the 59th safest medium-sized town, and the 2,238th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In April 2024, Newtownards had the worst crime rate in Down for theft from the person, with 1 crime reported and a crime rate of 0.03 per 1,000 daytime population. April 2023 was also a bad month for Newtownards residents, when it was again Down's most dangerous area for theft from the person, recording 1 crime at a rate of 0.03 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Newtownards are violence and sexual offences, with 869 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 24. This is 10% higher than 2025's figure of 792 offences and a difference of 2.14 from 2025's crime rate of 22. Newtownards's least common crime is theft from the person, with 1 offence recorded in 2026, the same as 2025's figure of 1 crime.
Newtownards 2026 Crime Scorecard
Second Most Dangerous
Medium-Sized Towns, Down
24% higher, regional crime rate
Northern Ireland
38% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Newtownards is 24% higher than Northern Ireland and 38% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Newtownards Crime Rate Over Time
| Newtownards | |
| Northern Ireland | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Newtownards Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Newtownards 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.
See How Newtownards Compares
You can compare Newtownards's crime statistics against any other town, village, or city from across the country. Search for a location's name below to see how they stack up.
Introduction to Newtownards's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Newtownards up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Newtownards's 693 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.
CrimeRate Insights
Looking into a specific address in Newtownards? CrimeRate Insights reports convert raw numbers into practical insight for any location, from single addresses and postcodes, up to major towns and cities.
Crime rates don’t happen by themselves; they follow people and patterns. Where crowds gather - near pubs and late-night venues, around the station, by supermarkets and forecourts - incidents naturally concentrate.
That doesn’t mean an area is "bad"; it usually means footfall is higher.
Your report explores these factors in a calm, non-judgemental way, putting the numbers in context and helping you spot what’s typical for places like this.
Crime Risk Scores
Newtownards • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Newtownards has a crime risk score of 398. This is based on analysis of 693 nearby areas within Newtownards, 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 Newtownards's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Newtownards, crime risk scores are typically around 398, while in Down they are average 311.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 414 (292 for Down), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 366 (Down 266).
Trends in Crime Risk
Newtownards
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.
No trend could be found in Newtownards's crime risk scores over the last 10 years, and the trend may well be static.
The five-year trend may be static; no significant trend was identified in Newtownards's crime risk scores during this timeframe.
Over the last year, Newtownards's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 23%, indicating that the risk profile is going up. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Newtownards
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
Newtownards • 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 3.01 reports per 1,000 people in Newtownards, which is 0.97 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 108 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 209 reports of Criminal Damage and Arson in Newtownards, resulting in a crime rate of 5.82 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 0.93.
The crime rate for Possession of Weapons is 0.88 times the national average at 0.69 reports per 1,000. This is from 24 crime reports reported to Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Newtownards
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.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.57 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Possession of Weapons CrimeRate Index was 0.86 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 83% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.15 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.71 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 62% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Newtownards
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Robbery offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of - for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 0.67 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a near-complete decrease over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.67 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 1.89 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 65% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.57 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 1.43 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 10% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Newtownards • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Newtownards | Down | Northern Ireland | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 750 | 20.87 | 1.48 | 11,076 | 15.08 | 1.07 | 43,885 | 17.62 | 1.25 |
| Bicycle Theft | 2 | 0.06 | 0.46 | 78 | 0.10 | 0.14 | 428 | 0.15 | 0.21 |
| Burglary | 24 | 0.65 | 0.27 | 633 | 0.86 | 0.27 | 2,573 | 1.02 | 0.33 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 209 | 5.82 | 0.93 | 3,022 | 4.13 | 0.66 | 12,926 | 5.19 | 0.83 |
| Drugs | 108 | 3.01 | 0.97 | 1,611 | 2.18 | 0.71 | 7,582 | 3.03 | 0.98 |
| Other Crime | 47 | 1.31 | 0.77 | 680 | 0.93 | 0.50 | 3,080 | 1.23 | 0.66 |
| Other Theft | 112 | 3.12 | 0.55 | 1,872 | 2.56 | 0.45 | 7,842 | 3.15 | 0.55 |
| Possession of Weapons | 24 | 0.69 | 0.88 | 297 | 0.39 | 0.46 | 1,231 | 0.52 | 0.61 |
| Public Order | 20 | 0.58 | 0.11 | 216 | 0.29 | 0.05 | 869 | 0.36 | 0.06 |
| Robbery | 5 | 0.14 | 0.70 | 70 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 468 | 0.19 | 0.16 |
| Shoplifting | 159 | 4.42 | 0.62 | 2,134 | 2.91 | 0.41 | 8,273 | 3.32 | 0.47 |
| Theft From the Person | 1 | 0.03 | 0.21 | 37 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 295 | 0.12 | 0.08 |
| Vehicle Crime | 15 | 0.44 | 0.13 | 425 | 0.57 | 0.13 | 2,067 | 0.83 | 0.19 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 869 | 24.17 | 0.80 | 10,199 | 13.90 | 0.46 | 41,940 | 16.83 | 0.55 |
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Total Crime by Year
Newtownards | Down | Northern Ireland | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 1,595 | 44.44 | 0.67 | 21,274 | 28.96 | 0.40 | 89,574 | 35.94 | 0.50 |
| 2025 | 1,493 | 41.60 | 0.61 | 22,178 | 30.15 | 0.41 | 93,985 | 37.72 | 0.51 |
| 2024 | 1,643 | 45.57 | 0.65 | 23,563 | 32.06 | 0.43 | 100,335 | 40.25 | 0.53 |
| 2023 | 1,704 | 47.23 | 0.65 | 25,967 | 35.20 | 0.45 | 107,639 | 42.99 | 0.54 |
| 2022 | 1,607 | 44.23 | 0.61 | 24,546 | 33.06 | 0.43 | 103,005 | 40.88 | 0.53 |
| 2021 | 1,240 | 33.98 | 0.56 | 21,959 | 29.44 | 0.43 | 91,280 | 36.14 | 0.53 |
| 2020 | 1,315 | 35.88 | 0.51 | 22,837 | 30.63 | 0.41 | 97,350 | 38.54 | 0.52 |
| 2019 | 1,451 | 39.68 | 0.55 | 23,217 | 31.06 | 0.41 | 96,251 | 38.09 | 0.50 |
| 2018 | 1,534 | 41.92 | 0.62 | 23,835 | 31.82 | 0.45 | 93,560 | 37.05 | 0.52 |
| 2017 | 1,471 | 40.14 | 0.66 | 24,097 | 32.15 | 0.50 | 95,010 | 37.52 | 0.59 |
| 2016 | 481 | 13.15 | 0.74 | 8,042 | 10.71 | 0.56 | 31,832 | 12.57 | 0.66 |
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Newtownards Compared to Nearby Medium-Sized Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Medium-Sized Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newry | 2,332 | 63.25 | 42% more dangerous |
| Newtownards | 1,595 | 44.44 | - |
| Metropolitan Castlereagh | 1,767 | 25.86 | 42% safer |
Comparing Newtownards to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Newtownards | 44.44 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 79% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 86% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 89% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 120% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 135% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 136% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 140% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 141% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 142% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 181% more dangerous |
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Recent Crimes in Newtownards
The 20 most recent crime reports in Newtownards.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Shimna Close | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Shimna Close | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Thornleigh Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Bristol Park | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Jubilee Road | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Greenlea Park | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Stranmore Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Possession of weapons | On or near Old Cross Street | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Glenford Way | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Glenford Way | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Rosevale Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Old Cross Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Mill Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Mill Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Mill Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near John Street | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Movilla Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Glenford Way | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Old Cross Street |
Methodology & Data Sources
Newtownards Crime Report
Data Sources & Processing
Every month, CrimeRate processes crime reports from data.police.uk, the UK's official provider of open crime report data. Each crime report includes anonymised coordinates, most often "snapped" to the middle of the nearest street, or to the nearest major landmark. The reports also include the month and year the crime was reported, as well as the type of crime.
Data releases on data.police.uk happen once a month, with a two-month delay. This means that, for example, crimes reported in Newtownards during July 2026 will typically become available in September 2026. The latest release is for Apr 2026 and was released in Jun 2026. To provide current and historical crime statistics, CrimeRate processed 61,669,232 crime reports for the latest release.
Newtownards Data Points
For Newtownards, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency in the 2015 release of their Settlements dataset, using the SA2015CD column value N11000040.
Due to the 2021 Census being conducted during a UK-wide Coronavirus lockdown, the daytime population figures released so far cannot be relied on for purposes such as comparing crime rates. Instead, CrimeRate uses Newtownards's daytime - or "workday" - population of 26,581 from NISRA's 2011 Census for calculations throughout the site.
All geographic boundaries use the full resolution - extent of the realm versions where provided to avoid missing crime reports near coastlines and rivers - the banks of the Thames in particular - that would otherwise not be included when using the clipped to the coastline datasets.
Calculating Crime Rates
CrimeRate locates the UK region, county, and town/city/village locality for each crime report, and calculates the crime rate by taking the sum of all crime reports, dividing it by the locality's daytime / "workday" population, and multiplying the result by 1,000 to get the crime rate per 1,000.
Crime Risk Score Calculations
CrimeRate calculates crime counts for local, nearby, and wider areas for every postcode in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The postcodes locations are deduplicated by a process that ensures distinct points are approximately 50 metres apart. This process removes the bias that would otherwise come from counting the same crimes several times in heavily populated areas.
Using a custom algorithm developed in-house, CrimeRate applies a crime severity weighting to each area's crime counts, based on the type of crime reported. This increases or decreases the crime count, or zeroes it out entirely, depending on the crime type. A separate crime severity rate is then calculated, standardised, and scaled to fit the crime risk score range of 1 to 1,000, with 1 being the lowest score, and 1,000 the highest.
Crime risk scores undergo further analysis per town, city, and village plus other areas including police forces and neighbourhoods. CrimeRate uses percentiles to work out the most common range of crime risk scores in each locality. This includes identifying the high and low bounds where approximately 68% of scores fall, and finding the median (50th percentile) for easy reference.
The crime types with a weight of zero are: Anti-Social Behaviour; Bicycle Theft; Other Crime; Other Theft; and Shoplifting. The highest weights to are assigned to Violence & Sexual Offences, and the lowest to Vehicle Crime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Newtownards