Bishop's Stortford is reasonably safe, though it records more crime than the rest of its district. The town's crime rate is about a seventh higher than the East Hertfordshire average. The mix of crimes is close to the national pattern. Anti-social behaviour is the one category that stands out. It is the largest town in a quiet district, and its crime numbers reflect that.
Police records count 3,686 crimes in the town over the year from June 2025 to May 2026, a published rate of about 80 per 1,000 residents. That is roughly 14% above the East Hertfordshire average for the same twelve months.
For comparison, the district as a whole runs at about 70 crimes per 1,000 residents, against about 80 in the town. The gap is real but small, and it reflects a busy town compared with the villages around it. If a particular road matters to you, the police's own street-level crime map will show what was reported there, which the town-wide figure cannot.
As neighbourhoods go, these are comfortable ones. The town averages about 4,960 people per square kilometre, unemployment was about 3% at the 2021 census, and about 3% of households were overcrowded. Waytemore Castle was used as a prison in the seventeenth century, and today it is grassy earthworks in a park.
Violence and sexual offences make up about 37% of crime recorded here, against about 35% nationally. That category is the largest almost everywhere, and it includes common assault without injury, so the local share is close to the national one. Anti-social behaviour accounts for about 21%, against 16% nationally, which is the clearest difference from the national pattern. Shoplifting is about 8% here and nationally, other theft about 7% against 7%, criminal damage and arson about 6% against 7%, and vehicle crime 5% in both. Apart from anti-social behaviour, the town's mix looks like the country's.
Charging is decided across the whole force area, so it tells you nothing about how safe the town is. Hertfordshire Constabulary charges a suspect in about 11% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which puts it 23rd of 42 forces in the year to May 2026. About 40% of the force's cases closed with no suspect identified. Those figures describe the county force as a whole, and the town does not have a separate charge rate.
On safety, Bishop's Stortford is middling. The crime mix is ordinary, and anti-social behaviour is the one area where the town does worse than the national pattern.