Photo: Roger A Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0Violent crime per resident is higher in Bideford than in 82% of UK towns
The typical town its size sees 6.1 cases of shoplifting per 1,000 residents; Bideford sees 10.7, or 209 in the 12 months to August 2026. Recorded violence held steady in a year. That puts it at C− for safety, judged on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #34 of 47 in Devon. Police counts work out at 37.9 violent and sexual offences and 11.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents annually.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Bideford
More crime than many places its size
Of 277 UK towns of 14,000 to 26,000 people, Bideford has the 171st lowest rate of graded crime: lower than March, Tonypandy and Stapleford, higher than Nantwich, Rawtenstall and Retford. Towns its size ↓
Many neighbourhoods rank low for crime nationally
The government’s Indices of Deprivation 2025 rank every neighbourhood in England on recorded crime. 12% of Bideford’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 11% in one of the highest-crime 20%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C− for Bideford, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 2,836 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Bideford 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 Bideford identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 51% of Bideford’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 11% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (63% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 4% 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. 948 crimes.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Bideford runs highest on shoplifting (10.7 per 1,000 against 6.1), other theft (5.7 per 1,000 against 4.4) and violence & sexual offences (36.6 per 1,000 against 30.4).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 713 | 36.6 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 259 | 13.3 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 209 | 10.7 | 6.1 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 137 | 7 | 6.2 |
| Other theft | not graded | 112 | 5.7 | 4.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 105 | 5.4 | 5.4 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 48 | 2.5 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 42 | 2.2 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 41 | 2.1 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 36 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 13 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 13 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 7 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
“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.
1 in 8 Bideford residents lives in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
35% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 11% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Bideford’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Crime in Bideford 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 12 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 17 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
171st of 277: Bideford among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 122 | Brixham Devon | 17,839 | 30.1 | 10.1 | 7.2 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 136 | Teignmouth Devon | 15,314 | 32 | 11.3 | 12.3 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 168 | Nantwich Cheshire | 18,741 | 39.5 | 8.8 | 14.1 | C− |
| 169 | Rawtenstall Lancashire | 23,683 | 33.5 | 15.4 | 13.1 | C− |
| 170 | Retford Nottinghamshire | 23,735 | 32.9 | 16.2 | 17.1 | C− |
| 171 | Bideford Devon | 19,493 | 37.9 | 11.6 | 15.1 | C− |
| 172 | Sudbury Suffolk | 23,922 | 37.9 | 11.8 | 12.7 | C− |
| 173 | Sunbury-on-Thames Surrey | 21,476 | 31.9 | 18 | 11.1 | C− |
| 174 | Burnham-on-Sea Somerset | 16,317 | 39.9 | 10.3 | 13.4 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 226 | Tiverton Devon | 19,710 | 45.4 | 16 | 13.2 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 277 | Skegness Lincolnshire | 20,701 | 79.4 | 27.6 | 41.7 | 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 Bideford, and others in Devon.
Lowest recorded crime in Northam, Bideford West and Bideford South; highest in Bideford North
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northam | 1,522 | 11.4 | 3.7 | |
| Bideford West | 2,942 | 30.5 | 6.8 | |
| Bideford South | 3,553 | 30.4 | 9.6 | |
| Bideford East | 5,736 | 35.9 | 11.5 | |
| Bideford North | 5,740 | 52.6 | 16.8 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 559 | 54% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 163 | 33% violent |
| Ferry terminals | 64 | 48% violent |
| Petrol stations | 54 | 44% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 54 | 39% violent |
| Shopping areas | 45 | 36% violent |
| Nightclubs | 36 | 42% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Bideford North records 1.7× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Bideford. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Bideford. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Bideford’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
How crime in Bideford 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 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
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 +3% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +9% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft +20% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -25% (towns its size -4%).
One person died in collisions on Bideford’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 70 collisions with injuries inside Bideford in five years, in which one person died (1 was a cyclist). 16 people were killed or seriously injured: 7 on foot and 6 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bideford’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bideford’s own rate (1.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Bideford had 16.4 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Bideford’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Bideford
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bideford | 19,493 | 37.9 | 11.6 | C− |
| Northam | 5,191 | 14 | 6.2 | A− |
| Westward Ho! | 3,468 | 33.2 | 8.6 | C |
| Appledore | 1,711 | 18.1 | 9.8 | B |
| Fremington | 5,229 | 15.6 | 4.7 | A− |
| Great Torrington | 5,958 | 23.4 | 7.9 | B− |
| Chivenor and Wrafton | 1,953 | 20.5 | 3.4 | B+ |
| Bickington | 2,105 | 17.8 | 5.7 | B+ |
Bideford records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Northam, 1.6 miles away, records 14 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Bideford’s 37.9.
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 Bideford 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 Bideford
Is Bideford safe?
Police recorded 37.9 violent and sexual offences and 11.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Bideford’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 22% of UK towns. Among 277 UK towns of 14,000 to 26,000 people, Bideford is 171st from the least crime. 12% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Bideford?
By council ward, Northam, Bideford West and Bideford South record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.4, 30.5 and 30.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 52.6 in Bideford North.
Is crime going up in Bideford?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 9%, shoplifting and theft rose 20% and anti-social behaviour fell 25%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Bideford?
Violence & sexual offences: 713 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (209) and criminal damage & arson (137), with 259 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Bideford compare with Barnstaple?
Barnstaple records 48 violent and sexual offences and 14.6 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Bideford’s 37.9 and 11.6, 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.