Photo: David Hillas · CC BY-SA 2.0Maple Cross stands out for drugs: 4.1 times the rate of a typical town its size
Maple Cross grades C− for safety overall (#46 of 50 in Hertfordshire): more crime per resident than 84% of UK towns, on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Violent crime barely moved in a year. Measured against the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, 12% of them record more crime per resident. Violence and property crime split as 38.8 violent and sexual offences and 16.8 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 residents a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
The C− for Maple Cross, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 430 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Maple Cross against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Maple Cross runs highest on drugs (4.3 per 1,000 against 1), burglary (5.8 per 1,000 against 1.9) and criminal damage & arson (12 per 1,000 against 4.5).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 113 | 43.8 | 22.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 51 | 19.8 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 31 | 12 | 4.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 15 | 5.8 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 13 | 5 | 2 |
| Public order | not graded | 11 | 4.3 | 3.6 |
| Drugs | not graded | 11 | 4.3 | 1 |
| Other crime | not graded | 8 | 3.1 | 1.5 |
| Other theft | not graded | 7 | 2.7 | 3.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 5 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 3 | 1.2 | 0.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0.1 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
How Maple Cross compares with UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richhill Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 2,738 | 6.2 | 2.8 | 3 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 83 | Watton at Stone Hertfordshire | 2,614 | 12.9 | 5.4 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 120 | Hertford Heath Hertfordshire | 2,830 | 13.9 | 6 | 2.6 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 214 | Codicote Hertfordshire | 2,677 | 16.7 | 8.5 | 1.7 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 405 | Welham Green Hertfordshire | 2,962 | 19 | 18.1 | 4.1 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 507 | Hartshill Warwickshire | 2,826 | 36.9 | 18.4 | 5.9 | C− |
| 508 | Porthmadog Gwynedd | 2,579 | 42.7 | 12.7 | 26.8 | C− |
| 509 | Trimsaran Dyfed | 2,190 | 42.3 | 13.2 | 4.3 | C− |
| 510 | Maple Cross Hertfordshire | 2,580 | 38.8 | 16.8 | 4.9 | C− |
| 511 | Berrow and Brean Somerset | 2,252 | 44.3 | 11.7 | 8.4 | C− |
| 512 | Meriden West Midlands | 2,203 | 27.8 | 28.1 | 7.1 | C− |
| 513 | Merlin's Bridge Dyfed | 2,220 | 46.6 | 9.6 | 5.6 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 550 | Avonmouth Bristol | 2,643 | 82.9 | 54.6 | 60.4 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Maple Cross, and others in Hertfordshire.
How Maple Cross’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Maple Cross’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Police in Maple Cross identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 81% of Maple Cross’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 8% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (85% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 3% of violent and 0% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 108 crimes.
Crime in Maple Cross per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 23 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 5 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Violent crime held steady over the year
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +74% (towns its size -1%), anti-social behaviour +19% (towns its size +0%).
No one died in a collision on Maple Cross’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 10 collisions with injuries inside Maple Cross in five years. 3 people were killed or seriously injured: 1 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Maple Cross is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Maple Cross’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 2 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Maple Cross had 3.
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Maple Cross’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Maple Cross
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maple Cross | 2,580 | 38.8 | 16.8 | C− |
| Chalfont St Peter | 13,654 | 15.6 | 11.9 | B |
| Chorleywood | 12,632 | 14.7 | 9.8 | B+ |
| Rickmansworth | 26,290 | 22.5 | 9.8 | B− |
| Chalfont St Giles | 4,707 | 13.6 | 9.5 | A− |
| Gerrards Cross | 8,117 | 14.4 | 14.1 | B |
| Little Chalfont | 6,506 | 21 | 13.2 | B− |
| Seer Green | 2,582 | 8.1 | 8.9 | A |
Maple Cross records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Chalfont St Peter, 2.1 miles away, records 15.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Maple Cross’s 38.8.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Maple Cross sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Maple Cross
Is Maple Cross safe?
Police recorded 38.8 violent and sexual offences and 16.8 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Maple Cross’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 16% of UK towns. Among UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Maple Cross has less crime per resident than 12%.
Is crime going up in Maple Cross?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 74%, shoplifting and theft fell 37% and anti-social behaviour rose 19%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Maple Cross?
Violence & sexual offences: 113 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (31) and burglary (15), with 51 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Maple Cross compare with Hillingdon?
Hillingdon records 33.4 violent and sexual offences and 23 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Maple Cross’s 38.8 and 16.8, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.