Shetland has lowest recorded crime rate in Scotland, new figures show

NEW figures show that Shetland had the lowest rate of recorded crimes per 10,000 population in Scotland last year.

Shetland had a recorded crime rate of 187 per 10,000 population in 2024, according to the Scottish Government data.

This was less than Orkney for instance, which had a figure of 224.

Shetland’s number of 187 was down from 260 in 2023.

A total of 430 crimes were recorded in total by Shetland police in 2024, down from nearly 600 the year before.

Contraventions of Scottish criminal law are divided for statistical purposes into crimes and offences.

The term ‘crime’ is generally used for the more serious criminal acts, while ‘offence’ covers things like road traffic matters and antisocial behaviour.

Commenting on the statistics, Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart said that “one crime is one too many, though the figures of low level crime in Shetland is very welcome and statistics seem to show a relatively stable level over the past few years with a bigger decline last year”.

“Shetland is a safe place to live, filled with lots of people and organisations pulling together fostering a strong sense of community,” she told Shetland News.

“We should be striving for a country where Shetland’s low level of crime is the rule not the exception.”