Barnstaple is NOT 'Devon's most dangerous' small town say police

Councillors and police officers say Barnstaple’s title as ‘the most dangerous small town in Devon’ is not a real reflection of the town.

Statistics from CrimeRate.com revealed that Barnstaple’s crime rate stood at 100 crimes per 1,000 people in June, 61 per cent higher than the regional average in its category.

But leading figures in the town, speaking at a meeting of North Devon Council’s licensing and community safety committee on Tuesday (November 3), argued that Barnstaple was not really small at all.

They said it was not a place where people felt unsafe walking down the street.

With 24,544 residents in the parish, it was 455 people away from being classified as a medium sized town.

Inspector Andy Wills, who leads neighbourhood policing teams in Barnstaple, said it was the largest settlement in the northern 50 per cent of land mass of Devon which was the third largest county in England.

He added: “Calling it a small town understates the value and role of Barnstaple as a place relative to the significant expanse of geography around it.

“It might be different if we had a neighbouring city 15 miles away.”

The meeting heard Barnstaple would be behind Torquay in the crime stakes if it was classified as a medium town.

The officer said the level of crime in the town was fairly high, but that was not surprising given it was an urban area which if you included Roundswell and Bickington on the outskirts would have nearly 34,000 residents.

A medium sized town better reflected Barnstaple, he said and added: “It is not a small town in the colloquial way it is portrayed.”

Insp Wills told councillors crime and disorder tended to correlate with areas of deprivation and two areas of Barnstaple were in the top 10 of most deprived areas nationally.

Figures revealed the biggest issue for Barnstaple was violence and sexual offences with 1,239 crimes reported between April 2025 and April 2026. This was 2.5 per cent higher than 2025’s figure of 1,209 offences.

Shoplifting offences had a crime rate of 18 reports per 1,000 people in the town for the same time period, which was 2.51 times the national average. This figure had increased by 144 per cent over the last three years, according to the statistics.

Inspector Wills said reporting levels of shoplifting in the town were high because of the good relationship with police officers and street marshals and public confidence that something would be done. He said very frequently offenders ended up in prison, some from repeat offending due to drug addictions.

He went on: “We have solved 39.6 per cent of shoplifting crimes in Barnstaple town centre which is completely at odds with national massaging that police do not do anything around shoplifting.”

Anti-social behaviour had dropped by 26 per cent over the last 12 months.

He added that the Barnstaple team detected 20 per of overall crime reported to them and were “consistently leading the force.”

The meeting was told a lot of uniformed activity was around making people feel safe.

The officer said: “I know the challenges are there but many of these concerns are not a public safety issue for people walking down the streets. Shoplifting is the highest single category of offending. There is risk to retailers but probably not to passing members of the public.

“If it was such a terribly dangerous place, I would think twice about my children going out independently and walking about.”

As far as resourcing went, Insp Wills said there were eight neighbourhood beat managers based in Barnstaple, which was higher than recent years and two PCSOs.

He said he would “readily and enthusiastically” accept the gauntlet that had been laid down to respond to the challenges.

Councillor Frank Biederman said headlines such as Barnstaple being the most dangerous small town in Devon caused anxiety and had an impact on the economy.

He said: “I worked in Barnstaple and I am out and about in it most days and attend the night-time economy. I do not see what I am reading and I do not feel it – we have street marshals and PCSOs on first name terms with residents and there are so many good things happening.

“We should be on our guard but it is a safe place with tremendously committed police officers, street marshals and PCSOs.”

The meeting stressed the importance of putting out a positive message about Barnstaple as well as supporting a move to ask police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez for a contribution towards street marshals after she pulled the plug on funding for next year.

Chief executive of the council Ken Miles said Barnstaple’s status as a crime hotspot was not helpful in recruiting people in healthcare or encouraging people to open shops.

But added if there was a problem, they needed to address it as a partnership, with youth services, more activities for children and the night-time economy all playing a role in making Barnstaple a safer place.

He said: “We need to get the data right and face up to the challenges.”