South West Crime Statistics
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The crime rate in the South West is 61 crimes per 1,000 people, for the 12-month period ending April 2026. The most commonly-reported crimes are violence and sexual offences, reported at a rate of roughly 29 reports per 1,000 daytime population.
South West Crime Map
Incidents mapped in South West 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 South West's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around South West up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of South West's 880 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
South West • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within South West has a crime risk score of 431. This is based on analysis of 880 nearby areas within South West, 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 South West's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in South West, crime risk scores are typically around 431, while in Devon & Cornwall Police they are average 450.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 451 (461 for Devon & Cornwall Police), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 461 (Devon & Cornwall Police 464).
Trends in Crime Risk
South West
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 15% in South West'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 South West's crime risk score is up by 3.6%. 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, South West's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 0.59%, 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
South West
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
South West • 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.
Possession of Weapons offences have a crime rate of 1.40 reports per 1,000 people in South West, which is 1.65 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 1,393 crime reports logged by Devon & Cornwall Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Devon & Cornwall Police recorded 8,432 reports of Shoplifting in South West, resulting in a crime rate of 8.45 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.19.
The crime rate for Public Order is 1.00 times the national average at 5.80 reports per 1,000. This is from 5,790 crime reports reported to Devon & Cornwall Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
South West
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.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.98 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.91 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 8% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.60 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 0.33 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 82% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
South West
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.43 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Possession of Weapons CrimeRate Index was 2.00 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 28% over this timeframe.
Theft From the Person offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.17 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 0.31 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 45% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.61 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 0.81 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 25% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
South West • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
South West | Devon & Cornwall Police | National | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 14,461 | 14.47 | 1.02 | 30,504 | 15.88 | 1.12 | 941,224 | 14.13 | 1.00 |
| Bicycle Theft | 639 | 0.65 | 0.89 | 1,309 | 0.68 | 0.93 | 48,449 | 0.73 | 1.00 |
| Burglary | 2,154 | 2.16 | 0.69 | 4,385 | 2.27 | 0.73 | 208,612 | 3.13 | 1.00 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 5,634 | 5.64 | 0.90 | 11,576 | 6.03 | 0.96 | 418,651 | 6.28 | 1.00 |
| Drugs | 2,118 | 2.12 | 0.69 | 4,955 | 2.57 | 0.83 | 205,214 | 3.09 | 1.00 |
| Other Crime | 1,447 | 1.44 | 0.78 | 3,228 | 1.68 | 0.91 | 124,230 | 1.85 | 1.00 |
| Other Theft | 4,493 | 4.49 | 0.79 | 9,622 | 5.00 | 0.88 | 378,146 | 5.69 | 1.00 |
| Possession of Weapons | 1,393 | 1.40 | 1.65 | 2,449 | 1.27 | 1.49 | 56,620 | 0.85 | 1.00 |
| Public Order | 5,790 | 5.80 | 1.00 | 12,518 | 6.52 | 1.12 | 386,297 | 5.80 | 1.00 |
| Robbery | 798 | 0.80 | 0.68 | 1,763 | 0.92 | 0.78 | 78,386 | 1.18 | 1.00 |
| Shoplifting | 8,432 | 8.45 | 1.19 | 19,151 | 9.96 | 1.40 | 475,025 | 7.13 | 1.00 |
| Theft From the Person | 330 | 0.32 | 0.21 | 984 | 0.51 | 0.33 | 103,505 | 1.55 | 1.00 |
| Vehicle Crime | 2,579 | 2.57 | 0.60 | 4,974 | 2.59 | 0.60 | 287,068 | 4.30 | 1.00 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 24,119 | 24.14 | 0.79 | 50,780 | 26.41 | 0.87 | 2,024,722 | 30.40 | 1.00 |
Download | |||||||||
Total Crime by Year
South West | Devon & Cornwall Police | National | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 59,926 | 59.98 | 0.83 | 127,694 | 66.41 | 0.92 | 4,794,925 | 71.98 | 1.00 |
| 2025 | 61,382 | 61.79 | 0.83 | 129,561 | 67.91 | 0.92 | 4,892,734 | 74.03 | 1.00 |
| 2024 | 65,391 | 66.53 | 0.88 | 133,619 | 70.64 | 0.94 | 4,937,620 | 75.43 | 1.00 |
| 2023 | 61,050 | 62.51 | 0.79 | 126,335 | 67.33 | 0.85 | 5,115,763 | 79.01 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 55,862 | 57.68 | 0.75 | 118,414 | 63.65 | 0.83 | 4,922,645 | 76.81 | 1.00 |
| 2021 | 50,485 | 52.57 | 0.77 | 107,774 | 58.27 | 0.85 | 4,369,811 | 68.57 | 1.00 |
| 2020 | 57,437 | 60.32 | 0.81 | 123,469 | 66.98 | 0.90 | 4,707,683 | 74.16 | 1.00 |
| 2019 | 53,654 | 56.81 | 0.75 | 114,599 | 62.30 | 0.82 | 4,824,370 | 76.25 | 1.00 |
| 2018 | 51,092 | 54.30 | 0.76 | 110,104 | 60.05 | 0.84 | 4,484,151 | 71.12 | 1.00 |
| 2017 | 47,080 | 50.51 | 0.79 | 104,155 | 57.04 | 0.89 | 4,011,470 | 63.94 | 1.00 |
| 2016 | 14,156 | 15.21 | 0.80 | 30,695 | 16.86 | 0.88 | 1,195,221 | 19.07 | 1.00 |
Download | |||||||||
The South West's Major Towns & Cities Compared
CrimeRate Pro
To download charts and tables, you must subscribed to CrimeRate Pro
You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.