London Colney has more crime than its surroundings, and theft is what pushes it up. The rate is about a third higher than the rest of St Albans district. Violence makes up less of it than the national mix would suggest. Things going missing make up far more. A buyer here has more to fear for their possessions than their person.
Police.uk records put London Colney's crime rate at about 108 per 1,000 residents for the year from June 2025 to May 2026, roughly 32% above the St Albans district average. That is 1,374 recorded crimes over the twelve months. Both figures are published by the police and the rate uses its own population base, so it won't match a sum done with the village's headcount.
Over the same period, St Albans district as a whole recorded about 81 crimes per 1,000 residents, against London Colney's 108. The district sets a low bar for crime, and London Colney trips over it.
The village itself is a fairly ordinary place on paper. It averages about 3,860 people per square kilometre, unemployment is about 3%, and about 5% of households are overcrowded. None of that explains the crime figure, and nothing in those three numbers points at a cause. They describe a settled, employed, reasonably roomy village that happens to record more theft than its neighbours.
The mix is where London Colney stands out. "Other theft", a police category for things taken outside a home or shop, makes up 27% of recorded crime here against 7% across England and Wales. Shoplifting is 12% against 8% nationally, and vehicle crime 7% against 5%. Violence and sexual offences, a broad legal grouping that includes common assault without injury and is the largest category almost everywhere, accounts for 26% here against 35% nationally. Anti-social behaviour is 11% against 16%, and criminal damage and arson 5% against 7%. Theft is the local habit, and a fight is rarer here than the national mix would lead anyone to expect. The police.uk street map shows where the reports cluster around a particular house, and a full year of it is more useful than one month in a village this size.
After a crime is reported, Hertfordshire Constabulary charges a suspect in about 11% of cases across its whole force area, against about 12% nationally, which puts it 23rd of 42 forces. About 40% of its cases are closed with no suspect identified. Those are force-wide figures describing what happens after a report, and they say nothing about how often crime happens in London Colney itself. For the theft that dominates here, a buyer should expect the stolen item to stay gone more often than not.
London Colney is one of the less safe places in its district, and the crime runs heavily to theft. That leaves buyers worrying about their sheds and cars more than about walking home.