Shoplifting reports in central Bishop's Stortford rose 41% in a year, to 311, and July set a record for all crime. The full police.uk figures.
Shoplifting reports in central Bishop’s Stortford have risen by 41% in a year. Police recorded 311 shoplifting offences within a mile of the town centre in the 12 months to August 2026. In the 12 months before that, the figure was 221.
Overall crime is up too, though by less. And the summer was the busiest we have found in the data: July 2026 had 279 recorded crimes, the highest monthly total since at least June 2024.
The figures are the street-level data Hertfordshire Constabulary supplies to police.uk. We downloaded them through the data.police.uk API on 4 October. The API counts crimes within one mile of a point, and we used the same point in the town centre for every month. August 2026 is the latest month published.
The year in numbers
We compared the 12 months to August 2026 with the 12 months to August 2025. Total recorded crime rose from 2,448 to 2,714, an increase of 11%.
| Type of crime | Sep 2024 to Aug 2025 | Sep 2025 to Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| All crime | 2,448 | 2,714 | up 11% |
| Violence and sexual offences | 862 | 908 | up 5% |
| Anti-social behaviour | 509 | 652 | up 28% |
| Shoplifting | 221 | 311 | up 41% |
| Other theft | 152 | 153 | level |
| Criminal damage and arson | 160 | 139 | down 13% |
| Public order | 119 | 138 | up 16% |
| Vehicle crime | 136 | 120 | down 12% |
| Burglary | 94 | 94 | level |
| Drugs | 48 | 71 | up 48% |
| Bicycle theft | 31 | 21 | down 32% |
The rises are concentrated in three categories:
- shoplifting, up 90 reports
- anti-social behaviour, up 143 reports
- violence and sexual offences, up 46 reports
Some things have got better. Vehicle crime, criminal damage and bicycle theft all fell, and burglary was unchanged at 94 reports in each year.
Drugs offences rose from 48 to 71. These are mostly recorded when officers find drugs, during a stop or a search, so a rise usually tells you more about police activity than about how many drugs are around.
Shoplifting has stayed high since March
The monthly shoplifting count has been 21 or more in every month since February. July’s 36 was the highest single month in the 27 months of data we checked, and August followed with 34.
A year earlier the picture was quieter. Between June and August 2025 there were 55 shoplifting reports in total. This summer, June to August, there were 97.
A record summer for anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour drove most of the summer peak. Police logged 91 reports in July 2026, 82 in June and 80 in August. Before this year, the highest monthly figure in our data was 70, in July 2024.
Across June, July and August, the three summer months, the totals were:
| Summer | All crime | Anti-social behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| June to August 2024 | 734 | 180 |
| June to August 2025 | 685 | 170 |
| June to August 2026 | 810 | 253 |
Anti-social behaviour usually rises in summer, when evenings are long and schools are out. But this summer was well above the two before it.
August 2026 on its own
The 263 crimes recorded in August broke down like this:
| Type of crime | August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Anti-social behaviour | 80 |
| Violence and sexual offences | 66 |
| Shoplifting | 34 |
| Public order | 18 |
| Other theft | 14 |
| Criminal damage and arson | 14 |
| Burglary | 13 |
| Vehicle crime | 9 |
| Drugs | 5 |
| Other types (four categories) | 10 |
August’s total was 33 higher than August 2025, when there were 230.
The streets with the most crimes mapped to them in August were Nails Lane (20), Potter Street (14) and Riverside Walk (14). Police.uk places each report at the nearest street or landmark rather than the exact address, to protect victims, so treat these as rough locations.
What it means for you
- Report it, even if it feels minor. Shoplifting and anti-social behaviour figures depend on people reporting. Hertfordshire Constabulary takes non-emergency reports online or on 101. Call 999 if a crime is happening now.
- Check your own street. The police.uk map shows the same data down to street level, month by month, and names your neighbourhood policing team.
- Shops and staff: the figures cannot say whether the rise in shoplifting means more thefts, or more of them being reported to police.
- Single months are noisy. One busy month means little on its own. The 12-month comparison above is the fairer test, and it shows a real rise.
The September figures are expected on police.uk later in October. We will update the comparison when they land.
For other figures about the town, see our Bishop’s Stortford house prices page.
Sources
- police.uk street-level crime data, Hertfordshire Constabulary, June 2024 to August 2026, downloaded via the data.police.uk API on 4 October 2026 (Open Government Licence)
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