St Albans stands as a beacon of relatively low crime within its surrounding boroughs, securing the 21st position among 25 for its crime rate. The city reported a total of 10,872 crime incidents in 2023. With a population tallying at 148,167, this translates to a crime rate of 73.38 per 1,000 residents, evidencing a slight reduction of 0.84% from the previous year’s statistics.
The landscape of crime in St Albans is dominated by violence and sexual offences, accounting for 26.5% of reported incidents, followed by anti-social behaviour at 21.9%, and shoplifting, which makes up 10.6%. On the flip side, theft from the person, robbery, and possession of weapons are among the least common crime types, each accounting for less than 1% of the total incidents.
Diving into the city’s 20 wards, St Peters, Park Street, and Harpenden West emerge as the areas most affected by crime. Contrastingly, Marshalswick East & Jersey Farm, Harpenden North & Rural, and Harpenden South are recognized for their significantly lower crime rates, highlighting the disparity in safety across the city.
Exploring St Albans through the lens of its postcode districts reveals WD25, HP2, and AL1 as the areas with the highest crime rates. Conversely, AL4, AL5, and AL6 stand out as the safest, underscoring the varied security landscape within the city. This comprehensive overview of St Albans’ crime scenario underscores the city’s lower-than-average crime rate alongside its internal diversities in safety.
In St Albans, there has been a rise in Anti-social behaviour by 2.83% in 2020 and Other theft by 2.78% in 2022. On the other hand, there was a decrease in Anti-social behaviour by 3.03% in 2022, Burglary by 1.76% in 2020, Other theft by 1.67% in 2020, and Vehicle crime by 1.97% in 2020.