Crime in Torbay: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (6,651), anti-social behaviour (2,060) and shoplifting (1,414) made up 66% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 76th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the upper half.

Recorded crime in Torbay peaked in the year to August 2018 (15,796 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2022 (13,289). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 3%, in line with England and Wales.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Torbay recorded notably more violence and sexual offences (39% above the national rate), possession of weapons (37% above the national rate) and criminal damage and arson (33% above the national rate), and notably less robbery (55% below) and bicycle theft (54% below). On the year before, bicycle theft rose from 40 to 53 and possession of weapons rose from 157 to 186, while drugs fell from 653 to 458 and anti-social behaviour fell from 2,689 to 2,060.

What each category covers: crime categories.

13,086 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Torbay in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 93.4 per 1,000 residents, close to the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was down 5% on the year ending March 2025 (13,763), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Torbay had the 68th highest rate (the street-level ranking above is among the 302 districts with street-level pages on this site, over the 12 months to August 2026).

Offences recorded in Torbay, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 2,599 offences (20% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for violence with injury (1.4 times the national rate), violence without injury (1.4 times the national rate) and stalking and harassment (1.4 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for bicycle theft (0.40 times), theft from the person (0.44 times) and vehicle offences (0.53 times).

The largest rises on the year were in stalking and harassment (+36%) and possession of weapons (+14%). The largest falls were in possession of drugs (−35%) and vehicle offences (−33%). Robbery of business property and shoplifting are not compared with the year ending March 2025: from April 2025 the Home Office Counting Rules were clarified so that a theft from a shop in which violence is used or threatened against staff or anyone else is recorded as robbery of business property rather than shoplifting (ONS).

Recorded crime in Torbay since the year ending March 2013

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2013 to 2026. Torbay's rate was above the England and Wales rate in 8 of those 14 years and below it in 6. Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

Districts in the Devon & Cornwall Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 4 districts in the Devon & Cornwall Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Torbay had the 2nd highest rate. Isles of Scilly is not in the table because it has too few recorded offences for a reliable rate. East Devon, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge and West Devon are not in the table because the Home Office publishes each of them jointly with a neighbouring district, as one community safety partnership.

Source: Home Office police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (released 23 July 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. Financial years, excluding fraud; how they differ from the street-level figures: methodology.

1 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Torbay; the highest is Plymouth district (109.5 per 1,000) and the lowest West Devon (44.5).

Of the 19 areas within Torbay, Tormohun had the highest crime rate (311.2 per 1,000) and Churston with Galmpton the lowest (38.2), 8 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 21% of the crime recorded in Torbay over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Parking Area” (831).

Of the 13,201 crimes in Torbay with a recorded outcome, 23% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 5.6% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 2,060 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Torbay has an estimated population of 140,126 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has less social housing (8.3%, against 17.1%), an older population (27%, against 19%) and fewer students (4.7%, against 7.9%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Torbay average decile 4.2 (1 = most deprived), more deprived than average.

Police-recorded crime from data.police.uk (September 2017 to August 2026), ONS population estimates and Census 2021. Definitions and limitations: methodology.