West Devon has the lowest crime rate in the county, and is one of the safest areas to live in, however, one crime type scores highest in both Tavistock and Okehampton .

The “safest part of Devon is West Devon”, with 45.1 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents – and that’s over 50 per cent lower than the England crime rate average, according to OpenCrime ratings.

Compared with other Devon areas, such as Torbay, which recorded 109.4 per 1,000 residents, the towns of Tavistock and Okehampton are considered two of the “safest”.

But, violence and sexual offences were easily the most reported crimes in these West Devon towns, despite the overall crime rate being low.

However, a general increase in sexual offences and violence in England has also been recorded nationally, with a 1.2 per cent increase from 2025, so far.

Tavistock is “among the top 10 safest small towns in Devon, and is the 76th most dangerous overall out of Devon's 403 towns, villages, and cities”, reports CrimeRate, via data collected and updated in June 2026.

Data from POLICE.UK shows that the most commonly reported crimes in Tavistock are violence and sexual offences, with 366 of these type of offences being recorded over the last 12 months.

In August 2026, 67 crimes were reported in either Tavistock town or the surrounding neighbourhood – and 32 of those were violence and sexual offences.

Tavistock is a 'safe' town, but violence and sexual offences are the most reported crimes
Tavistock is a 'safe' town, but violence and sexual offences are the most reported crimes (Katie Oborn )

Ten anti-social behaviour incidents were reported (in August 2026, the most recent data available) with seven ‘other theft’ and 18 reports described as ‘all other crime’ for that month.

The most common crimes reported in Okehampton were also violence and sexual offences, with a total of 235 of these types of offences reported over the last 12 months.

In August 2026, 54 crimes were reported in Okehampton, with 18 violence and sexual offences, nine shoplifting, seven ‘other theft’ and 20 in the ‘all other crime’ category from the POLICE.UK data.

Overall, crime reports have gone down in Tavistock and Okehampton compared to two years ago (2024).

Devon & Cornwall Police, via the Tavistock Town local area page online, state that there’s been “a reduction in anti-social behaviour (ASB) across West Devon” following their “robust approach” to any reports.

In regards to drugs offences, Devon & Cornwall Police “require the support of our residents by reporting any concerns or suspicious activity to us”.

Local police are also working with West Devon communities to “improve road safety by pursuing offenders and by taking preventative measures with our local partners to reduce casualties on West Devon's road networks”.

If you’ve experienced crime, reports can be made to Devon & Cornwall Police (devon-cornwall.police.uk/reportcrime). While it’s important to call 999 in an emergency, you can report a non-emergency crime or incident to Devon & Cornwall Police online.

Services to report specific types of crime such as domestic abuse, rape or a sexual offence, anti-social behaviour or hate crime are available on the Devon & Cornwall Police website.