On recorded crime, Sheering is not a safe area, and that comes as a shock to anyone who has only driven through it. Its rate is about double the rest of Epping Forest. Shoplifting is the biggest single category. Violence makes up a smaller share than it does nationally. Whatever is pushing the rate up, the pattern looks nothing like the usual picture of village crime.
Police.uk recorded 354 crimes in the area in the year to May 2026, a published rate of about 151 per 1,000 residents. That rate is calculated over the statistical area police.uk uses, which takes in more than the village streets, and it comes out roughly 98% above the average for Epping Forest district. A crime rate is the number most buyers never check, and here it is the one that most needs checking.
Across Epping Forest as a whole, the published rate over the same twelve months was about 76 crimes per 1,000 residents. Sheering's 151 against the district's 76 is a big gap, and it is far too wide for a sale price to be hiding it.
The surroundings don't look like a place with a crime problem. Average population density is about 898 people per square kilometre, unemployment is about 1% and only about 3% of households are overcrowded. Those are descriptions of the neighbourhood, and none of them explains the rate.
The mix is unusual. Shoplifting accounts for about 29% of recorded crime here, against about 8% nationally, and other theft for about 14%, against about 7%. Violence and sexual offences, a broad legal category that includes common assault with no injury, makes up about 20% here, against about 35% across England and Wales. Criminal damage and arson is about 9% against 7%, anti-social behaviour about 6% against 16%, and public order about 6% against 7%. With only 354 crimes in the year, a handful of incidents moves any of these shares by several points, so next year's mix could look quite different. The police.uk street-level map shows where offences were logged, and it's worth checking whether any were near the road you are thinking of buying on. As it stands, the biggest category needs a shop to happen in, and most of these crimes were committed at a till rather than at someone's front door.
Once a crime is reported, Essex Police charges a suspect in about 11% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which puts it 28th of 42 forces in England and Wales. About 37% of its cases close with no suspect identified. Those are figures for the whole force, from the year to May 2026. They describe what happens after a crime anywhere in Essex and say nothing about how much crime happens in Sheering.
On the published numbers, Sheering's safety is poor. Each house can be safe, but the rate across the area is the worst thing about living here.