Crime in Welwyn Hatfield: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (4,064), anti-social behaviour (2,655) and shoplifting (1,017) made up 64% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 101st of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the upper half.

Recorded crime in Welwyn Hatfield peaked in the year to August 2018 (13,080 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2024 (11,354). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it fell 7%, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

Compared with England and Wales, Welwyn Hatfield recorded notably more bicycle theft (80% above the national rate) and anti-social behaviour (41% above the national rate), and notably less theft from the person (63% below) and public order (22% below). On the year before, drugs rose from 283 to 459 and other crime rose from 227 to 269, while theft from the person fell from 137 to 76 and shoplifting fell from 1,276 to 1,017.

What each category covers: crime categories.

9,546 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Welwyn Hatfield in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 77.7 per 1,000 residents, close to the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 4% on the year ending March 2025 (9,186), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Welwyn Hatfield had the 119th highest rate (the street-level ranking above is among the 302 districts with street-level pages on this site, over the 12 months to August 2026).

Of the crimes recorded in the Hertfordshire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 1.4% were not assigned to a district. Those crimes are counted in the force and England and Wales totals but in no district, so the figure for Welwyn Hatfield is a slight undercount.

Offences recorded in Welwyn Hatfield, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 1,534 offences (16% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for bicycle theft (1.9 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for arson (0.43 times), theft from the person (0.59 times) and robbery of personal property (0.70 times).

The largest rises on the year were in trafficking of drugs (from 39 to 130) and bicycle theft (+39%). The largest falls were in arson (−13%). Robbery of business property and shoplifting are not compared with the year ending March 2025: from April 2025 the Home Office Counting Rules were clarified so that a theft from a shop in which violence is used or threatened against staff or anyone else is recorded as robbery of business property rather than shoplifting (ONS).

Recorded crime in Welwyn Hatfield since the year ending March 2013

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2013 to 2026. Welwyn Hatfield's rate was above the England and Wales rate in 1 of those 14 years and below it in 13. Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

Districts in the Hertfordshire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 10 districts in the Hertfordshire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Welwyn Hatfield had the 3rd highest rate.

Source: Home Office police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (released 23 July 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. Financial years, excluding fraud; how they differ from the street-level figures: methodology.

3 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Welwyn Hatfield; the highest is Stevenage district (118.8 per 1,000) and the lowest East Hertfordshire (68.3).

Of the 24 areas within Welwyn Hatfield, Handside had the highest crime rate (225.3 per 1,000) and Brookmans Park the lowest (26.1), 9 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 24% of the crime recorded in Welwyn Hatfield over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Supermarket” (797).

Of the 9,476 crimes in Welwyn Hatfield with a recorded outcome, 37% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 5.6% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 2,655 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Welwyn Hatfield has an estimated population of 122,819 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has more students (14.1%, against 7.9%), more social housing (25%, against 17%) and fewer households without a car (18%, against 23%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Welwyn Hatfield average decile 6.8 (1 = most deprived), less deprived than average.

Police-recorded crime from data.police.uk (September 2017 to August 2026), ONS population estimates and Census 2021. Definitions and limitations: methodology.