Photo: Lewis Clarke · CC BY-SA 2.0St Stephen sees more violent crime per resident than nine in ten UK towns
Scored on crimes police recorded inside St Stephen’s built-up area across September 2023 to August 2026, the town lands on D for safety. The yearly rates were 46.8 violent and sexual offences and 11.0 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents. Violence recorded locally dropped 25% in a year. By contrast, among the 1,541 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, it records less crime per resident than 6%.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in St Stephen
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 25% less violent crime per resident in St Stephen than in the year before; across UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people violent crime held steady. Trend ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind St Stephen’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 382 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks St Stephen against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
Police in St Stephen identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 43% of St Stephen’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 2% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (76% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 0% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 117 crimes.
How crime in St Stephen has moved
Devon & Cornwall Police published three months short or not at all (Sep 2023, Oct 2023 and Nov 2023), so the line breaks there and those months are left out of the rates. “Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent -25% (towns its size +3%), homes and vehicles -33% (towns its size +0%), anti-social behaviour -66% (towns its size -1%).
How St Stephen compares with UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richhill Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 2,738 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 3 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 86 | Carnon Downs and Devoran Cornwall | 2,129 | 14.3 | 3.9 | 2.4 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 141 | Probus Cornwall | 2,565 | 17.7 | 3.5 | 1.3 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 153 | Lanner Cornwall | 2,164 | 18 | 4.2 | 3.7 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 289 | Threemilestone Cornwall | 2,854 | 22.4 | 6.4 | 9.1 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 515 | Smallfield Surrey | 2,613 | 42.2 | 14.8 | 10.6 | D |
| 516 | Great Houghton South Yorkshire | 2,489 | 33.9 | 23.8 | 11.7 | D |
| 517 | Aspatria Cumbria | 2,169 | 46.4 | 11.4 | 8.8 | D |
| 518 | St Stephen Cornwall | 2,339 | 46.8 | 11 | 3.7 | D |
| 519 | Luddenden Foot West Yorkshire | 2,148 | 43.5 | 14.7 | 4.5 | D |
| 520 | Thornley County Durham | 2,543 | 30.9 | 27.4 | 3.8 | D |
| 521 | Hawkesbury Warwickshire | 2,288 | 40.2 | 18.4 | 4.4 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 550 | Avonmouth Bristol | 2,643 | 82.9 | 54.6 | 60.4 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near St Stephen, and others in Cornwall.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, St Stephen runs highest on criminal damage & arson (7.3 per 1,000 against 3.2) and violence & sexual offences (36.8 per 1,000 against 16.6).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 86 | 36.8 | 16.6 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 17 | 7.3 | 3.2 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 12 | 5.1 | 5.3 |
| Other crime | not graded | 9 | 3.8 | 1.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 7 | 3 | 2.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 6 | 2.6 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 6 | 2.6 | 0 |
| Drugs | not graded | 5 | 2.1 | 0.6 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 2 | 0.9 | 1.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 1 | 0.4 | 1.6 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.4 | 0 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robbery | Violent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people.
Crime in St Stephen per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 9 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 3 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
No one died in a collision on St Stephen’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 5 collisions with injuries inside St Stephen in five years. 2 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people (94%) had no road deaths in these five years, and St Stephen is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of St Stephen’s size at the median for UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people would see about 1 people killed or seriously injured in five years; St Stephen had 2.
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside St Stephen’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around St Stephen
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Stephen | 2,339 | 46.8 | 11 | D |
| Foxhole | 1,526 | 35.7 | 9.3 | C |
| Nanpean | 1,077 | 20.9 | 11.1 | B− |
| Grampound Road | 1,160 | 26 | 6 | B− |
| St Dennis | 2,363 | 39.4 | 13.5 | C− |
| Trewoon | 1,246 | 23.9 | 3.8 | B |
| Polgooth | 1,096 | 5 | 3 | A+ |
| Indian Queens, Fraddon and St Columb Road | 3,888 | 21.9 | 6.3 | B |
St Stephen records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Foxhole, 1.7 miles away, records 35.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against St Stephen’s 46.8.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Some months are short. Devon & Cornwall Police published September 2023, October 2023 and November 2023 only in part or not at all. Those months are left out of the rates, which average the months that were published in full; the raw counts include what was published.
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where St Stephen sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in St Stephen
Is St Stephen safe?
Police recorded 46.8 violent and sexual offences and 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside St Stephen’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 14% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, St Stephen has less crime per resident than 6%.
Is crime going up in St Stephen?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 25%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 33%, shoplifting and theft fell 11% and anti-social behaviour fell 66%. Across UK towns of 1,000 to 2,500 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in St Stephen?
Violence & sexual offences: 86 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (17) and other crime (9), with 12 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does St Stephen compare with St Austell?
St Austell records 47.8 violent and sexual offences and 15.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against St Stephen’s 46.8 and 11, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.