Photo: Chris Andrews · CC BY-SA 2.0Crime in Tavistock sits close to the middle of UK towns
Tavistock grades C+ for safety overall (#19 of 47 in Devon): close to the middle of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Tavistock
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 8% more violent crime per resident in Tavistock than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than many places its size
Of 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Tavistock has the 145th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Darton, Bridport and Dungannon, higher than Humberston and New Waltham, Otley and Pencoed. 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. 41% of Tavistock’s residents live in one of the lowest-crime 10%, and 0% 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.
Tavistock grades C+ for safety
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
A firm grade. Built on 1,334 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Tavistock against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
A third Tavistock residents live in one of England’s lowest-crime neighbourhoods
Tavistock’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.
59% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
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.
Anti-social behaviour and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 352 | 27.8 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 90 | 7.1 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 77 | 6.1 | 6.2 |
| Public order | not graded | 67 | 5.3 | 5.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 55 | 4.3 | 6.1 |
| Other theft | not graded | 55 | 4.3 | 4.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 24 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 14 | 1.1 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 12 | 0.9 | 2.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 10 | 0.8 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 3 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 1 | 0.1 | 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.
Police in Tavistock identify a suspect more often than across UK towns
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. 442 crimes.
No suspect was identified for 53% of Tavistock’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 9% 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 12% of violent and 10% of household crimes reached court.
Violent crime up 8% in a year, while towns its size held steady
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 +8% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +3% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -7% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour -8% (towns its size -4%).
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).
Tavistock is 145th of 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Tavistock, and others in Devon.
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 56 | Kingsteignton Devon | 11,945 | 20 | 8.6 | 6.8 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 66 | Sidmouth Devon | 13,258 | 21.9 | 7.6 | 6.3 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 89 | Ivybridge Devon | 12,485 | 24.2 | 7.6 | 7.9 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 142 | Humberston and New Waltham Lincolnshire | 14,861 | 25.9 | 11 | 6.4 | C+ |
| 143 | Otley West Yorkshire | 14,549 | 25.6 | 11.3 | 9.3 | C+ |
| 144 | Pencoed Mid Glamorgan | 9,119 | 28.3 | 8.7 | 5.9 | C+ |
| 145 | Tavistock Devon | 12,676 | 27.9 | 9.1 | 9.2 | C+ |
| 146 | Great Dunmow Essex | 10,395 | 24 | 13 | 6.8 | C+ |
| 147 | Westbury Wiltshire | 16,394 | 26.2 | 11 | 6.3 | C+ |
| 148 | Whitwick Leicestershire | 10,455 | 26 | 11.6 | 7.7 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 157 | Honiton Devon | 12,155 | 29.1 | 9 | 8.3 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 376 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Lowest recorded crime in Tavistock South West, Tavistock South East and Tavistock North; highest in Tavistock North
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Tavistock’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tavistock South West | 3,295 | 16.4 | 4.6 | |
| Tavistock South East | 3,895 | 21.9 | 7.8 | |
| Tavistock North | 5,486 | 35.8 | 11.6 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Car parks | 194 | 36% violent |
| Supermarkets | 48 | 33% violent |
| Petrol stations | 26 | 31% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Tavistock North records 1.8× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Tavistock. 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 Tavistock. We show only these, never streets or homes.
For every 1,000 residents, about 28 violent and sexual offences in the 12 months to August 2026
And about 8 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 crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
One person died in collisions on Tavistock’s roads in 2021–2025
Collisions police recorded inside Tavistock’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Police recorded 52 collisions with injuries inside Tavistock in five years, in which one person died. 13 people were killed or seriously injured: 6 on foot and 0 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 Tavistock’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Tavistock’s own rate (1.6) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Tavistock had 20.5 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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.
Crime in the places around Tavistock
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tavistock | 12,676 | 27.9 | 9.1 | C+ |
| Horrabridge | 1,875 | 21.5 | 5.8 | B |
| Gunnislake and St Ann's Chapel | 3,506 | 20.7 | 6.4 | B |
| Yelverton | 1,856 | 14.7 | 4.9 | A− |
| Bere Alston | 2,259 | 17.4 | 11.8 | B |
| Princetown | 1,442 | 19.2 | 6.6 | B+ |
| Kelly Bray | 1,137 | 14.4 | 2.6 | A |
| Callington | 4,665 | 36.9 | 11.9 | C− |
Tavistock records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Callington records more. Horrabridge, 3.2 miles away, records 21.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Tavistock’s 27.9.
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 Tavistock 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 Tavistock
Is Tavistock safe?
Police recorded 27.9 violent and sexual offences and 9.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Tavistock’s built-up area). That earns a C+ for safety: less crime per resident than 41% of UK towns. Among 376 UK towns of 9,000 to 17,000 people, Tavistock is 145th from the least crime. 41% of residents live in neighbourhoods in England’s lowest-crime 10%.
What are the safest areas of Tavistock?
By council ward, Tavistock South West, Tavistock South East and Tavistock North record the least violent and household crime per resident: 16.4, 21.9 and 35.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 35.8 in Tavistock North.
Is crime going up in Tavistock?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 8%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft fell 7% and anti-social behaviour fell 8%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Tavistock?
Violence & sexual offences: 352 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (77) and public order (67), with 90 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Tavistock compare with Plymouth?
Plymouth records 49.4 violent and sexual offences and 14.9 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Tavistock’s 27.9 and 9.1, 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.