If you complain about Hertfordshire Constabulary and ask for a review, the reviewing body found the force's original outcome was not reasonable and proportionate in 20.6% of 63 completed reviews in 2024/25, the 26th highest of 43 forces and 3.9 points below the national figure of 24.5%. Hertfordshire Constabulary recorded 20,318 stop and searches between 2023-07 to 2026-05, and 74.4% ended in no further action.

20.6%

of completed reviews found Hertfordshire Constabulary's own complaint outcome was not reasonable and proportionate

IOPC, 2024/25. 13 of 63 reviews.

330

complaint cases per 1,000 employees

IOPC, 2024/25. 1,474 cases, 4,461 employees.

74.4%

of stop and searches ended in no further action

data.police.uk, 2023-07 to 2026-05. 14,565 of 19,587 recorded outcomes.

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17.1% of the people searched by Hertfordshire Constabulary where ethnicity was recorded were recorded by the officer as Black.

Source: data.police.uk, 2023-07 to 2026-05, 18,604 searches with ethnicity recorded. Figures as published; see the tables on this page for the full denominators.

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Before you share this. This is a statistic reproduced from an official publication, not an allegation against any officer or force, and not a finding of wrongdoing. Share it with the source attached, which is why the source is included in the share text. Do not add claims of your own to it, what you write alongside a figure is yours, not ours, and you are responsible for it. Numbers are as published at the date shown and may be restated later by the body that published them.

Complaints about Hertfordshire Constabulary

Complaint cases logged	1,474
Employees	4,461
Cases per 1,000 employees	330.4 (33rd of 44)
Review applications to the local policing body	65
Review applications to the IOPC	35

Stop and search by Hertfordshire Constabulary

Searches recorded	20,318
Period	2023-07 to 2026-05
Months of data	35 of 36
Ended in no further action	74.4%

What Hertfordshire Constabulary searched people for

Stated object of search	Searches
Controlled drugs	11,218
Article for use in theft	4,333
Offensive weapons	3,281
Stolen goods	919
Articles for use in criminal damage	265

Who Hertfordshire Constabulary searched

Officer-defined ethnicity	Searches	Share
White	13,033	70.1%
Black	3,187	17.1%
Asian	1,940	10.4%
Other	444	2.4%

Calculated over the 18,604 searches where an officer recorded an ethnicity, which is 91.6% of all searches by this force.

Compared with who lives in the Hertfordshire Constabulary area

Ethnic group	Share of searches	Share of residents	Ratio
Black	17.1%	3.7%	4.6x
Asian	10.4%	8.6%	1.2x
Other	2.4%	2.1%	1.1x
White	70.1%	81.8%	0.9x

What this ratio is and is not. It compares the share of searches to the share of people resident in this force area at the 2021 Census. It takes no account of who is present in a place rather than living there, which matters most in city centres and transport hubs. A ratio above one means a group is searched more often than its resident share, and that is a pattern requiring explanation, not evidence of discrimination in itself. Groups under 0.5% of the resident population are omitted because the figure becomes unstable. Every force compared.

Recording gaps. Hertfordshire Constabulary did not record officer-defined ethnicity for 8.4% over this period. Percentages on this page are calculated only over the records where the relevant field was actually recorded.

Use of force by Hertfordshire Constabulary

Year	Use of force reports	Relative volume
2020/21	10,639
2021/22	11,934
2022/23	12,048
2023/24	12,251
2024/25	13,580

Recorded use of force by Hertfordshire Constabulary has risen 27.6% since 2020/21. Nationally the total rose 39.4% over the same period, so this force is below the national trend.

Taser use

Total recorded Taser uses	622
Of which discharged	23
Share actually discharged	3.7%

Most recorded Taser use is drawing, aiming or red-dotting rather than firing. The share actually discharged is the figure worth knowing.

Complaining to Hertfordshire Constabulary

Complaints go to the force first. Use its own official channel so the complaint is recorded properly and you get written confirmation.

Hertfordshire Constabulary official websiteSource: data.police.uk
Telephone: 101Non-emergency number. Always call 999 in an emergency.

Build a complaint letter for Hertfordshire Constabulary

What you can do about it

Complaining to a force and bringing a claim against it are different processes with different outcomes. Reviews overturn the force's own finding in roughly a quarter of cases nationally, which makes the review stage worth understanding before you use it.

How to complain about the police

Hertfordshire Constabulary in the news

The five most recent reports mentioning this force, collected automatically. Headlines and links belong to the publishers named. We do not edit, summarise or endorse them, and inclusion here does not imply any finding against anyone.

Hertfordshire Constabulary to use specialist tech to combat hare-coursing Hemel Today · 28 Aug 2026
Have you seen this stolen motorbike? Hertfordshire Constabulary · 28 Aug 2026
Police constable charged with rape following investigation by Hertfordshire Constabulary Hemel Today · 26 Aug 2026
Police officer charged with three counts of rape due in Hertfordshire court Herts Advertiser · 26 Aug 2026
Did you witness incident in Hemel Hempstead? Hertfordshire Constabulary · 24 Aug 2026

Sources

Independent Office for Police Conduct, police complaints statistics for England and Wales, 2024/25.
data.police.uk stop and search API, 2023-07 to 2026-05. Accessed 2026-08-29.
Home Office police use of force statistics, England and Wales, 2024/25.

Data last refreshed 29 August 2026, covering 2023-07 to 2026-05. Every figure on this page is recomputed from the source datasets, not edited by hand. Found something wrong? Tell us.