Photo: Mike Pennington · CC BY-SA 2.0Recorded crime in the Shetland Islands council area is 64% below Scotland’s rate
Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes street by street, so Lerwick has no Safety Grade and no overall grade until the 2026 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation brings neighbourhood crime figures. What Scotland does publish: crime for the whole Shetland Islands council area (203 crimes per 10,000 people in 2025-26), and how Lerwick’s own neighbourhoods rank for crime.
What stands out about safety in Lerwick
Crime down over ten years
Recorded crime across the Shetland Islands council area went from 232 to 203 per 10,000 people between 2016-17 and 2025-26; across Scotland it moved +3%. Ten years ↓
More crime-deprived neighbourhoods than most
40% of Lerwick’s residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s small areas with the most crime on SIMD 2020, and 9% in the fifth with the least. Its rate of SIMD crimes, 385 per 10,000 in 2017/18, is 40% above Scotland’s. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the Scottish Government’s recorded crime and SIMD figures on this page.
What police recorded in the Shetland Islands council area in 2025-26
Common assault and fraud sit below Scotland’s rate.
Show every crime group as a table
| Group | Recorded | Per 10,000 | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-sexual crimes of violence | 141 | 61 | 136 |
| Sexual crimes | 72 | 31 | 30 |
| Crimes of dishonesty (theft, housebreaking, fraud) | 73 | 31 | 213 |
| Damage and reckless behaviour (vandalism, fire-raising) | 101 | 44 | 69 |
| Crimes against society (drugs, weapons, justice) | 83 | 36 | 121 |
| Antisocial offences (disorder, threatening behaviour) | 59 | 25 | 93 |
Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26: crimes and offences by council area. Groups 1 to 5 are crimes; group 6, antisocial offences, is offences.
Per 10,000 people. The tick on each bar is Scotland’s rate. Every town in the council area shares these figures.
40% of Lerwick residents live in one of Scotland’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
11% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of Scotland’s neighbourhoods, and 40% in the highest-crime 20%. Lerwick counted 385 SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, 40% above Scotland’s 276; three years before, 409 (-6%, Scotland -9%).
Scottish Government, SIMD 2020v2 crime domain and SIMD crime indicators (crimes of violence, sexual crimes, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drugs offences and common assault, 2014/15 and 2017/18). Residents from Scotland’s Census 2022 output areas.
Lerwick’s residents by the crime decile of their small area (2011 data zone, about 800 people) in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of Scotland’s 6,976 data zones and 10 the lowest.
Lerwick is 162nd of 177 Scottish towns of 3,362 to 13,309
| # | Town | People | SIMD crimes per 10,000 | In the most crime-deprived fifth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westhill Aberdeenshire | 11,778 | 52 | 0% |
| 2 | Kingswells Aberdeen City | 4,776 | 56 | 0% |
| … | ||||
| 159 | Alness Highland | 5,940 | 375 | 47% |
| 160 | Lanark South Lanarkshire | 8,937 | 378 | 29% |
| 161 | Langlee Scottish Borders | 3,530 | 378 | 41% |
| 162 | Lerwick Shetland Islands | 6,714 | 385 | 40% |
| 163 | Keith Moray | 4,554 | 407 | 37% |
| 164 | Ballingry Fife | 5,823 | 409 | 37% |
| 165 | Leven Fife | 10,088 | 426 | 31% |
| … | ||||
| 176 | Buckhaven Fife | 4,413 | 537 | 71% |
| 177 | Stranraer Dumfries and Galloway | 9,729 | 565 | 45% |
SIMD crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, counting from the fewest: the towns either side of Lerwick, and the ends of the list. Described, not graded.
Recorded crime down 13% since 2016-17
Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2016-17 to the newest year. Since April 2019 violence includes the new crime of domestic abuse under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018.
Per 10,000 people each year, the Shetland Islands council area against Scotland. 2016-17 to 2025-26: all crimes -13% (Scotland +3%), violence -2%.
61% of crimes in the Shetland Islands council area were cleared up, more than Scotland’s 57%
Violence and drugs crimes are cleared up most often, because they are usually recorded with a suspect in view; housebreaking, theft and vandalism least.
Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26: crime clear-up rates by council area.
Share of crimes recorded in 2025-26 that were cleared up: a suspect identified and enough evidence to report them to the procurator fiscal. The tick is Scotland.
For every 1,000 people in the Shetland Islands council area, about 9 violent or sexual crimes in 2025-26
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can suffer several, and crimes in a city centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 5 housebreakings, car thefts or acts of vandalism and fire-raising, plus 3 other thefts and frauds. Each dot is one person; each coloured dot is one recorded crime. These are council-wide figures: every town in the Shetland Islands council area shares them.
No one died in a collision on Lerwick’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 13 collisions with injuries inside Lerwick in five years. 5 people were killed or seriously injured: 2 on foot and 1 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Lerwick is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Lerwick’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 6 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Lerwick had 5.
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; the towns its size are England and Wales’s. There’s no national rate here: more than two thirds of Scotland’s road deaths (70%) happen outside every town’s locality boundary. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Lerwick’s locality, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Council areas, not towns. Recorded crime and clear-up rates are published for each of Scotland’s 32 council areas, so every town in the Shetland Islands council area shares them. A city centre and a quiet village in the same council show the same figures.
- SIMD crime is town-level, but old. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counts selected crimes (violence, sexual crimes, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drugs offences and common assault) in each small area. SIMD 2020 uses crimes from 2017/18; SIMD 2026, due at the end of 2026, will bring newer figures; we plan to grade Scottish safety on them.
- Not a grade. Nothing on this page is graded. The towns-its-size ranking and the neighbours’ colours describe SIMD crime rates; they aren’t a Safety Grade and don’t feed one.
- Recorded, not experienced. Recorded crime is what the police record. It moves with reporting and policing as well as with crime; the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey asks people directly, for Scotland as a whole.
Questions about safety in Lerwick
Is Lerwick safe?
Police Scotland recorded 203 crimes per 10,000 people across the Shetland Islands council area in 2025-26, 64% below Scotland’s 569. Within Lerwick, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation counted 385 of its selected crimes per 10,000 residents in 2017/18, against 276 across Scotland; 40% of residents live in the fifth of Scotland’s neighbourhoods with the most crime. Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Lerwick has no Safety Grade.
How many crimes are solved in the Shetland Islands council area?
61% of crimes recorded in 2025-26 were cleared up (someone was identified and there was enough evidence to report them to the procurator fiscal), against 57% across Scotland.
Why doesn’t Lerwick have a Safety Grade?
Our Safety Grade counts crimes inside each town’s boundary. Police Scotland doesn’t publish crimes by location for reuse, so Scottish towns can’t be measured the same way. The 2026 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation will bring newer neighbourhood crime figures.
Sources: Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland (crimes, offences and clear-up rates by council area, 2016-17 to 2025-26); Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020v2 crime domain and SIMD crime indicators (2014/15, 2017/18), 2011 data zones with Census 2022 residents · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the NRS 2022 locality 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.