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North Devon, in numbers

Crime and safety: North Devon

North Devon local authority area. Every figure carries its own date.

What the recorded figures show, and what they cannot tell us.

Recorded crime and population

A larger population can mean more recorded offences even when the number of offences per resident falls. Read the total and the rate together.

A checked recorded-crime total and matching population rate for this exact council area are not available in this collection yet. The local mapped records below remain a separate measure.

Can we test the population theory over 30 years?

Only where the offence definitions, recording practices and area boundaries are comparable. Changes in reporting, police recording and the types of crime matter too. We do not join incompatible series or invent missing years.

No verified one-to-one current CSP/authority code relationship; aggregate or split geography requires review

  • 2002/03: Series starts after April 2002 recording-standard introduction; not comparable to pre-2002 records.
  • 2013/14: Offence grouping revision; source back-series retained. Recording practice changes also affect comparisons.
  • 2017/18: Burglary classification changed; broad total retained but detailed groups need review.
  • 2023/24: Burglary subcategories and recording-rule changes require interpretation review.

A comparable 30-year crime-and-population trend has not been established for this area.

For example, if offences rose by 10% while population rose by 20%, offences per resident would fall by about 8%. This is an illustration, not a finding about this area.

People commuting or visiting can also affect offences recorded in a place. The resident population is a useful common denominator, but does not count everyone present.

What could help? Follow the types and locations of repeated problems, check residents’ experiences, and assess the response. Area population totals do not identify who commits offences.

Local issues and proposed responses →

Police-recorded locations for North Devon local authority area. Locations are approximate; these are not all crimes or a measure of personal risk.

6,247 mapped crimes

September 2025 to August 2026. Compared with 6,263 in the previous 12 months. Anti-social behaviour is counted separately.

Mapped crime over time

September 2024 to August 2026

North Devon local authority area · mapped crimes

Reviewed figures: September 2024 to August 2026. This reviewed record covers fewer than 30 years, so the chart opens on all of it.

Shown on this chart: 521 mapped crimes in September 2024; 623 mapped crimes in August 2026. These are recorded counts; check the coverage notes before comparing periods.

The line joins consecutive published observations.

Monthly crime and anti-social behaviour
Recorded locations by month · North Devon
MonthMapped crimeAnti-social behaviour
September 2024521125
October 2024513100
November 2024501105
December 202447686
January 202546898
February 2025463116
March 2025550108
April 2025469127
May 2025560138
June 2025574140
July 2025576126
August 2025592146
September 202553896
October 2025517102
November 202547173
December 202547039
January 202638948
February 202643061
March 202655960
April 202651265
May 202658570
June 202655272
July 202660184
August 202662395
Crime categories in the latest complete year
September 2025 to August 2026 · North Devon
CategoryMapped crimes
violent crime3,041
shoplifting716
criminal damage arson647
public order500
other theft450
burglary205
drugs171
other crime153
vehicle crime150
possession of weapons81
robbery55
theft from the person40
bicycle theft38
What these numbers include

Approximate published locations, not every crime or personal risk.

Anti-social behaviour is separate. Transport police and unusable locations excluded.

An empty ward count means no mapped rows in the complete required force files; it does not prove that no crime occurred.

These are retrieved mapped records, not a guarantee of complete crime reporting. Approximate locations and unmapped incidents limit comparisons.

Missing ward-months invalidate totals and changes. Busy centres attract visitors, so residential population is not a measure of the number of people exposed.

Police data and method →

What could improve local safety →