Stevenage's police teams have new priorities: drug hotspots, speed checks on Canterbury Way and town centre shop theft, which more than doubled this summer.
Stevenage’s three neighbourhood police teams have set new priorities, and drugs are on the list in every part of the town. The central team will also target shop theft in the town centre. The north team will run speed checks on Canterbury Way, North Road and Vardon Road.
Hertfordshire Constabulary published the list on 22 September. The teams set priorities every four months, from resident surveys and an analysis of other data.
The new priorities, area by area
Central Stevenage
- continue to tackle anti-social behaviour in the town centre, focusing on “urban exploring” and drunk and disorderly behaviour
- continue to tackle drug use in the Bedwell and Pin Green area
- reduce retail crime in the town centre
North Stevenage
- speed enforcement on Canterbury Way, North Road and Vardon Road
- patrols against e-scooter use in Symonds Green and on Canterbury Way
- drugs and related issues in all the north wards, especially Wisden Road, Vardon Road, Fairview Road, Meadway and North Road
- theft from vehicles, mainly in the Old Town ward but across all the north wards
South Stevenage
- proactively target drug hotspots
- identify and prevent the “annual anti-social behaviour winter spikes”
The force says officers will still respond to day-to-day calls and county-wide priorities alongside these.
What the figures show
We checked the priorities against police.uk, which publishes every recorded crime by neighbourhood. Its three Stevenage neighbourhoods, North, Central and South, match the three teams. The latest month published is July 2026.
The retail crime priority has the clearest evidence behind it. Central Stevenage recorded 37 shoplifting offences in June and 38 in July. Over the previous ten months it averaged just under 18 a month, so the summer figures are more than double that.
Central’s anti-social behaviour count also hit its highest point of the year in July, with 92 incidents. That compares with 29 in November 2025.
Here is how the three areas compare over the twelve months from August 2025 to July 2026:
| Recorded on police.uk, Aug 2025 to Jul 2026 | North | Central | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-social behaviour | 582 | 631 | 605 |
| Drug offences | 148 | 125 | 115 |
| Shoplifting | 128 | 253 | 534 |
| Vehicle crime | 150 | 146 | 133 |
| All recorded crime and ASB | 3,839 | 3,073 | 3,864 |
Two cautions apply. Drug offences mostly show up in the figures when police go looking for them, through stop and search and warrants. A rise can mean more enforcement rather than more drugs. And the South team’s “winter spike” in anti-social behaviour does not appear in last winter’s recorded figures. South Stevenage logged between 28 and 44 incidents a month from October to February, against 72 in July. The force has not said which data the winter priority is based on.
What happened to the last set
The force also reported on the previous four months. In the town centre, it says patrols targeted anti-social behaviour over the summer and Operation Scoot continued against illegal e-scooter use. Officers patrolled the town centre gardens and Hampson Park against drug use and supply.
In the north, speed checks were run on the same three roads, which stay on the list. Police cadets gave advice to owners of vehicles left unlocked, under Operation Vamplate. The force says one man was arrested on suspicion of theft from motor vehicles.
In the south, officers worked with businesses on retail crime. E-bikes and e-scooters were seized from riders using them unlawfully on roads and pavements.
Inspector Will Rogers-Overy, who leads the Stevenage neighbourhood policing team, said: “In some cases, priorities will remain the same in areas until we are satisfied the issue has been dealt with.”
What it means for you
- If you drive on Canterbury Way, North Road or Vardon Road, expect speed checks.
- If you ride an e-scooter in Symonds Green or on Canterbury Way, expect patrols. Over the last four months, officers seized e-scooters and e-bikes ridden unlawfully in the south of the town.
- If you park in the Old Town or the north wards, lock the car and take valuables out. Theft from vehicles is a named priority.
- To have a say in the next set, sign up to Herts Connected, the force’s free messaging service. The priority surveys go out through it.
You can report crime online at herts.police.uk/report, or call 101. Call 999 if a crime is happening. You can stay anonymous through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Our roadworks and travel page has this week’s closures, and our Stevenage parking guide covers the town centre car parks.
Sources
- Hertfordshire Constabulary, New local priorities set for Stevenage, published 22 September 2026.
- police.uk street-level crime data for the Stevenage North, Stevenage Central and Stevenage South neighbourhoods (Hertfordshire Constabulary), August 2025 to July 2026, queried by neighbourhood boundary on 28 September 2026.
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