Yes, and by a wider margin than most places that claim it. The recorded crime rate here runs at roughly half the county's. Around a hundred crimes were recorded across a whole year. Eight in ten homes are owner-occupied and the median resident is nearer sixty than forty. This is a village where the loudest thing on a Tuesday night is somebody's security light reacting to a badger.
The published figure from police.uk is 34 recorded crimes per thousand people over the twelve months to May 2026, which sits about 54% below the Cornwall average. The total behind it is 102 recorded crimes across those twelve months. That is a small number in absolute terms, and small numbers are worth stating plainly rather than dressing up: a village of this size produces a couple of recorded crimes a week and some weeks none at all.
The comparison is worth seeing in full rather than as a bare percentage. Cornwall as a whole records 74 crimes per thousand people over the same twelve months. Polgooth records 34. Both are published rates using the same method, and the gap between them is the answer to the question.
The kind of place that produces those numbers is visible in the rest of the brief. Population density averages about 880 people per square kilometre across the village's small areas, which is village-with-fields rather than town. Unemployment sits at 2% and overcrowding at 1%, which is close to the floor on both measures. None of that causes the crime rate on its own, but it does describe the texture: a settled, low-density, largely owner-occupied place where most homes have someone in them during the day.
On what the crimes actually were, the mix needs handling carefully because the base is 102 incidents, low enough that a handful of reports shifts a share by several points. With that caveat, violence and sexual offences accounted for 45% of the total against 35% nationally, which sounds worse than it is: that category is a broad statutory grouping covering everything up to and including common assault without injury, and it is the largest category almost everywhere. Other theft was 12% against 7% nationally, burglary 10% against 4%, criminal damage and arson 8% against 7%, and public order 7% against 7%, the last two effectively matching the national picture. Anti-social behaviour ran at 11% against 16% nationally. None of these should be read as a settled characteristic of the village. On a hundred incidents, this year's mix is a snapshot, not a personality.
What happens after a report is a separate question from how safe the streets are, and the honest answer is less flattering. Devon and Cornwall Police charged a suspect in about 8% of cases over the same twelve months, against about 12% nationally, which ranks the force 42nd of the 42 forces in England and Wales. In 26% of cases the investigation closed with no suspect identified. Those are force-wide figures reflecting decisions made across two counties, not a measure of this village, and they answer the question of whether anyone gets caught rather than the question of whether anything happens.
Safety is the standout strength of living in Polgooth, and it is not a marginal call: the rate is roughly half the county's on the same published measure. Just do not confuse a quiet village with an attentive police force, because those are two different findings and only one of them is good.