More about this area
The force says...
Hertfordshire, covers 634 square miles with 70 percent of the county designated rural, large urban centres include Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Stevenage and Watford. The standard of living is mostly high, unemployment low, however, there are areas of deprivation and social exclusion.
The population of Hertfordshire continues to increase, rising from 1.11m in 2011 to 1.2m people in the most recent 2021 census. 15.4 percent of residents are from ethnic minority groups.
The population is expected to rise a further 175,000 by 2031. With up to 100,000 new homes being built and around 100,000 new jobs being created by the mid-2030s.
Ten community safety partnerships (CSPs), aligned to local authority areas, maintain a strong local policing focus. Each CSP has dedicated neighbourhood, local response and crime teams, supported by inter-agency partnerships and centralised specialist departments. Significant collaboration, chiefly through a strategic alliance with Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, provides protective services and a range of operational and support functions increasing effectiveness and efficiency.
Transport infrastructure includes M25, M1, A10 and A1M, rail networks between London and the major cities of the Midlands and the North and the HS2 railway. It is due to the County’s location and infrastructure that the force has been targeted for significant protest activity and we remain a target for future activity.
The Constabulary’s 2022/23 budget is £244.3m; £207.5m of which is currently spent on staff. The workforce comprises of 2273 Police Officers, 166 Police Community Support Officers, 1647 Police Staff and 162 Special Constables
Recorded crime largely continues to reflect national trends. Recorded crime year to date to 6th December 2022 is up 3% on the previous year as we have emerged from the pandemic, but remains down, just over 9% on the same period prior to the pandemic in 2019.
Disclaimer: the above statement has been prepared by Hertfordshire Constabulary. The views and information in it are not necessarily those of HMICFRS.