Feeling safe is essential to Londoners’ wellbeing and to the functioning of the city. Experiences of crime and perceptions of safety vary across communities and influence trust, mobility and opportunity. This chapter reviews trends in recorded crime and other indicators of safety in London.
The seven featured indicators mirror the Tier 1 and Tier 2 measures in the Outcomes Framework for the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan (PCP). The high-level indicators of total notifiable offences and the victimisation rate provide an understanding of the overall crime picture in London. These indicators relate directly to the Mayor’s manifesto commitment of ‘Making London safer’ and the associated outcome, ‘London is a safe city’.
The other Tier 2 indicators relate to the policing and community safety priorities agreed for London, as set out in the PCP:
Reducing violence and criminal exploitation (violence with injury indicator)
Improving the criminal justice system and supporting victims (victim satisfaction and proven reoffending rate indicators)
Building safer, more confident communities (proportion of Londoners worried about crime indicator)
Supporting and overseeing reform of the MPS (proportion of Londoners who trust the MPS).
Levels of Crime and Disorder
This section examines crime and disorder within London by analysing levels of total notifiable offences, violence with injury offences, victimisation rates and reoffending rates.
Between April 2025 and March 2026, 916,176 offences were recorded across the capital, a decrease of 3% compared to the previous 12-month period when 943,843 offences were recorded. This indicates that the year-on-year increases in offending observed post-pandemic have stabilised.
Overall offence levels remain lower than those observed before the pandemic, when 957,107 were recorded in 2018-19.
Almost half (49.4%) of the offences recorded between April 2025 and March 2026 were acquisitive crimes1 , representing a slight reduction from the year before (53.8%). During the same comparison period, the proportion of offences that were violent crimes2 increased from 27.8% to 30.2%.
During 2025/26, there continued to be an uneven distribution in the volume of crime across London, with Westminster, Newham, and Camden continuing to log the highest total offence counts.
The chart illustrates monthly volatility in violence with injury offending. Annual offending rose 2.5% from 2021/22 to 2023/24, before dropping sharply by 18.4% in 2024/25. Offences then decreased by an additional 0.9% in 2025/26.
Levels of specific violent crime types diverged between 2024/25 and 2025/26. Homicides fell by 6.5% and knife crime dropped by 21.2%. Conversely, stalking and harassment rose by 14.3%, sexual offences rose by 5.3%, and domestic-related violence with injury rose very slightly by 0.4%.
The Public Attitude Survey (PAS) provides an understanding of Londoners’ perceptions and experiences of policing and crime within London. The survey identifies victim prevalence by asking respondents whether they have experienced something that they consider a crime or anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the specified period.
In 2025, an average of 5% of survey respondents reported being victimised in the previous month. This mirrors the 2024 rate and marks a slight increase from 2023, which averaged 3%.
During the same period, 12% of respondents reported experiencing ASB in the previous quarter, up from 10% in 2024. Police-recorded anti-social behaviour incidents remained stable, with calls shifting slightly from 254,334 in the year ending April 2024 to 259,262 in the year ending April 2025.
After a decade of year-on-year reductions, London’s reoffending rates have increased in the year ending June 20243 .
Of the 37,348 adults in the July 2023 – June 2024 cohort, 24.8% reoffended within 12 months, up from 22.4% the previous year. The adult reoffending rate remains higher for men (25.5%) than for women (20%).
During the same period, 29.7% of youth offenders reoffended within a year. Like the adult cohort, the male youth reoffending rate is notably higher than the female rate (32% versus 13.1%).
London’s adult reoffending rate is lower than the national average for England and Wales (24.8% versus 28.6%). However, the capital's youth reoffending rate tracks the national average more closely (29.7% versus 32.1%).
Perceptions of crime and disorder
This section looks at Londoners’ perceptions of crime and disorder in the capital and the extent to which they are worried about crime and anti-social behaviour.
Long-term trends show a significant increase in the proportion of Londoners worried about local crime and anti-social behaviour. However, the latest Public Attitude Survey (PAS) data marks a notable reduction from the peaks recorded during the pandemic.4 In October 2025, 44% of Londoners said they were worried about crime and 43% said they were worried about anti-social behaviour.
When asked what the MPS should prioritise, Londoners said knife crime and violence against women and girls (VAWG) were 'very important' for the MPS to tackle, while ranking drugs, hate crime, and anti-social behaviour (ASB) as lower priorities.
Londoners under 25 are the least worried about ASB, while those aged 45 to 64 are the most concerned. In Q3 2025/26, 68% of Londoners felt safe walking alone in their local area after dark, though this dropped to 58% among women. Both figures remained stable compared to Q3 2024/25 when they were 69% and 58% respectively.
Feelings of safety vary widely by borough5 . While 82% of Merton residents feel safe, that figure reduces to 55% in Hillingdon and Hounslow. A similar gap exists for female respondents, with safety perceptions reducing to 42% in Hillingdon and Hounslow compared to 72% in Richmond upon Thames.
Trust and satisfaction with the Metropolitan Police Service
This section provides two survey measures on trust in the Metropolitan Police Service and satisfaction levels of reporting victims.
In April 2025, 74% of respondents to the PAS survey agreed with the statement that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is an organisation they can trust. This was a slight increase on the previous year when it was 71%. However, the longer-term trend suggests that trust in the MPS has declined. In 2018, it was as high as 86% before falling to a low of 69% in 2023.
Levels of trust in the MPS are not uniform across London; borough rates fluctuate considerably between 59% in Hackney and 82% in Merton.
Trust continues to be highest among older residents aged 65+ (78%) and lowest among young adults aged 25–34 (70%).
Respondents with a self-defined disability have consistently lower levels of trust in the MPS than those without a disability.
Furthermore, trust sits 8 points lower than the MPS average for Black and Mixed ethnic respondents (63% and 58% respectively), and 15 points lower for LGBT+ respondents (58%).
Over the last few years, the level of satisfaction6 among victims reporting crime incidents to the police has declined for all three of the main crime reporting methods.7 Despite this, overall satisfaction remains significantly greater for victims who report crime incidents face-to-face.
Victims aged 65 years and over continue to have notably higher levels of satisfaction than any other age group. Conversely, victims aged 16-24 years who report crimes either online or by telephone are consistently less satisfied than the MPS average.
Disabled victims who reported crime incidents face-to-face continue to be significantly less satisfied than non-disabled victims with their reporting experience (52% compared to 67% in Q4 2025/26). However, this disparity is not shown for victims reporting crime incidents either online or by telephone.