Police in Plymouth reflect on another busy year in the city

Police teams in Plymouth are reflecting on a busy 2025 and are well prepared for more incidents and events throughout the rest of this year – January has proved to be demanding so far.

Last year officers dealt with thousands of incidents, some of them very challenging and worked hard to keep the public safe and bring offenders to justice.       

Communities across the vibrant city were helped by officers who were investigating reports such as missing people, drug dealing, road traffic collisions, community events, unexploded WW2 ordnance, adverse weather such as flooding, rural crime, anti-social behaviour, protests, retail and business crime - to name just some of the demands.  

Each summer sees an influx of holiday makers to Plymouth and throughout Devon which means extra demand on police teams as the population grows. 

Plymouth Police Commander Matt Longman said: “As one of the blue light responders we are used to dealing with very busy and challenging situations - and 2025 was no exception.

“I would like to praise all those officers, staff and volunteers who make up the police family in Plymouth. They are a very dedicated bunch and do their best to help the public round the clock. There are a variety of significant demands across the city and we will continue to tackle crime in all forms and help the most vulnerable in society. We want to keep our communities safe and informed.

“This year promises to be an exciting one with many community events, including the Plymouth City of Culture bid, and we are always ready to deploy to whoever needs us. We don’t always get things right 100% of the time but we have hard-working colleagues who go above and beyond to serve their communities. And we would like to thank the public who support and work with us.

“This year has been a busy one so far and we have had another positive response to an unexploded bomb where we worked closely with the public and partner agencies to evacuate those affected and return the city to normality as quickly as possible. This major incident happened on the same day as a similar major incident in Exmouth and shows, once again, how we work alongside our partners to successfully resolve situations.”  

Some of the proactive work in 2025 across areas of Plymouth included:

Plymouth city centre is a designated hotspot foot patrol area and officers are focused on tackling anti-social behaviour and increasing engagement with the public. Extra hotspot foot patrols in the city centre have been funded by the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner/Home Office. From 1 April to 31 December last year there have been 1517 hours of foot patrol hours in Plymouth City Centre.

Volunteer Special Constabulary officers dedicated more than 4,000 hours last year to support Plymouth police teams (including Neighbourhood officers and Response) in 2025. There are currently 23 Specials in Plymouth helping the Force with unpaid duties. They take part in operations, road safety initiatives and high visibility foot patrols, as well as supporting community events. Specials have the same powers as regular police officers and wear the same uniform. They are required to donate at least 16hrs per month to the role.

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