Police have added marked and unmarked patrols after a run of burglaries in Sunnybank Road, Potters Bar. Area figures show November is the peak month.
Police have stepped up patrols in Sunnybank Road, Potters Bar, after a run of burglaries in the street. Officers say they are using both marked and unmarked cars, and several residents told them they had already noticed the extra presence.
The Potters Bar and Shenley Neighbourhood Policing Team held a street event in Sunnybank Road on the afternoon of Saturday 3 October. It was so busy it ran longer than planned, the force said in its statement.
The force has not said how many burglaries there have been in the street, or whether anyone has been arrested over them.
What the police did on Saturday
The event was run by three PCSOs: Cheryll Lavell, Graham Tippett and Chris Ramdeen. According to the force, it:
- gave residents crime prevention advice on home and vehicle security
- told them that burglary in the area “remain[s] a policing priority”
- told them patrols had been increased, in marked and unmarked vehicles
- signed people up to Herts Connected, the force’s messaging service for local crime alerts
While the event was on, Sergeant Noel Buckley and PC Jack Laycock patrolled the area in plain clothes, on foot and in an unmarked car.
What the figures show for Potters Bar
We counted every burglary recorded on police.uk for the Potters Bar and Shenley police neighbourhood. The latest published month is August 2026, so the recent Sunnybank Road burglaries are not in these figures yet.
The pattern is a winter one:
- 109 burglaries were recorded in the 12 months to August 2026, down from 115 in the 12 months before
- November is the peak in both years: 17 in November 2025 and 21 in November 2024
- the quietest month was June 2026, with 2
| Month | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|
| September | 4 | 12 |
| October | 2 | 8 |
| November | 21 | 17 |
| December | 12 | 13 |
| January | 9 | 8 |
| February | 13 | 11 |
| March | 11 | 8 |
| April | 11 | 6 |
| May | 9 | 10 |
| June | 6 | 2 |
| July | 8 | 6 |
| August | 9 | 8 |
police.uk places each crime at the nearest mapped street or landmark, not the exact address, and the burglary category covers business premises as well as homes.
The clocks go back on Sunday 25 October. A Hertsmere officer said last month that the force often sees “an increase in burglaries as the evenings get darker”, after two arrests over a suspected aggravated burglary in Shillitoe Avenue.
What it means for you
- Sign up to Herts Connected and choose “police” to get alerts for your area.
- Check doors, windows and cars before the clocks change. The force publishes its own crime prevention advice.
- A free burglary advice talk runs at the Civic Offices in Borehamwood at 6pm on Wednesday 28 October. Details are in our earlier story.
- To report a crime, contact Hertfordshire Police online or on 101. In an emergency, call 999.
Sources
- Hertfordshire Constabulary, Police meet with residents following Potters Bar burglaries, published 7 October 2026.
- police.uk street-level crime data, burglary category, for the Potters Bar and Shenley neighbourhood boundary (Hertfordshire J03), September 2024 to August 2026. The counts are our own.
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