Strabane stands out for drugs: 2.5 times the rate of a typical town its size

Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.

0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Northern Ireland’s neighbourhoods, and 65% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime and disorder domain scores recorded crime, anti-social behaviour and deliberate fires where people live, on 2014–15 figures (NISRA’s latest edition), so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.

Strabane’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (Super Output Area, about 2,000 people) in the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017 (crime and disorder domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Northern Ireland’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.

Against the typical town its size, Strabane runs highest on drugs (4.9 per 1,000 against 1.9), other crime (4.1 per 1,000 against 1.8) and anti-social behaviour (19.3 per 1,000 against 12.4). Burglary and shoplifting sit below it.

“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 10,000 to 50,000 people.

“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data; England and Wales towns only).

Rolling six-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 -15% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +3% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +5% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -7% (towns its size -4%).

And about 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 9 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.

A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Strabane North records 2.5× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Strabane.

Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Strabane’s settlement), September 2023 to August 2026.

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 Strabane, and others in Derry City and Strabane.

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 is as the Police Service of Northern Ireland recorded it: the Department for Transport’s adjustment, which evens out different ways of recording injuries, covers Great Britain’s forces only, and the towns its size are Great Britain’s. There’s no national rate here: more than three quarters of Northern Ireland’s road deaths (77%) happen outside every town’s settlement boundary. Source: PSNI police recorded injury road traffic collisions, 2021–2025.

Collisions police recorded inside Strabane’s settlement, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.

Strabane records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Castlederg, 9.3 miles away, records 32.2 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Strabane’s 35.1.

Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.