Safety · Bristol
Bristol, VT crime & safety
Bristol's reported crime rate is well below Vermont's. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. Violent crime is rare: 3 reported in 2025.
Crime reported to police, trends and how Bristol compares with the towns next door, from FBI data.
Reported crime, 2025
Bristol at a glance
Violent crime
0.8
per 1,000 residents · Vermont 2.2
Property crime
2.6
per 1,000 residents · Vermont 14.5
Incidents reported
13
3 violent · 10 property
Violent crime per 1,000
Property crime per 1,000
Trend
Reported crime per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025
BristolVermont
Solid lines: property crime · dashed: violent crime.
Show as a table
| Year | Bristol property | Vermont property | Bristol violent | Vermont violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1.1 | 17.1 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| 2023 | 3.2 | 18.2 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| 2024 | 4 | 16.7 | 0.3 | 2.3 |
| 2025 | 2.6 | 14.5 | 0.8 | 2.2 |
What gets reported
2025, by type
Larceny / theft
8
Burglary
0
Vehicle theft
2
Aggravated assault
3
Robbery
0
Rape
0
Homicide
0
Arson
0
Offenses reported to police, not convictions.
Who keeps Bristol safe
Local public safety
👮 Bristol Police DepartmentReports its crime counts to the FBI — the figures on this page.
🚨 EmergenciesCall 911. For non-emergency numbers, alerts and preparedness, see the town guide.
Next door
Bristol and its neighbors
Reported crime per 1,000 residents in each town's latest year. * = a count, for towns under 1,000 people.
| Town | Violent | Property | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 0.8 | 2.6 | 2025 |
| Middlebury | 0.5 | 10 | 2025 |
No town figures in the FBI's data: New Haven, Lincoln, Starksboro, Ripton, Monkton.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can't tell you
- It's reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many thefts and some assaults are never reported.
- Small numbers swing. In a town of about 3,800, a handful of incidents moves the rate noticeably from year to year. The trend matters more than any one year.
- Visitors count too. Towns with a campus, highway, beach or shopping center see incidents involving people who don't live there, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn't report a full year, not that nothing happened.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. This isn't an official statement of public safety — in an emergency, call 911.