Violence against a person - which may include assault, malicious communications or a public order - dropped from 682 reports to 593.
Thefts were also less common, with 130 reports this year compared to the 153 in 2019/20 and reported criminal damage incidents also fell, from 254 to 177 in the same period.
And reported domestic abuse crimes in North Herts fell by 14 per cent in 2020/21.
The one category which increased over the past year was drug-related crime, which rose from 89 reported cases to 91.
Sgt Clarke concluded: "COVID-19 and lockdowns has had a significant impact on the number of crimes reported in the Hitchin urban area."
Sgt Clarke also praised the number of people signing up to the "extremely effective" local OWL and neighbourhood watch schemes - with Hitchin having 4,550 members or roughly a quarter of the town's households.