Photo: Trevor Harris · CC BY-SA 2.0More burglary, vehicle crime and damage is recorded per resident in Havering than in 89% of UK towns
For every 1,000 residents, 29.0 violent and sexual offences and 18.1 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were logged a year. Among the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it records less crime per resident than 83%. Even so, recorded violence rose 6% in a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Havering
Violent crime rose over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 6% more violent crime per resident in Havering than in the year before; across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 10% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
Less crime than most places its size
Of 49 UK towns and cities of 182,000 to 350,000 people, Havering has the 8th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Luton, Reading and Brighton and Hove, higher than Bexley, Bromley and Wandsworth. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Havering’s C
A fairly firm grade. Built on 36,460 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Havering 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, Havering runs highest on theft from the person (1.7 per 1,000 against 0.7), vehicle crime (8.2 per 1,000 against 4.9) and robbery (2.2 per 1,000 against 1.4). Other crime and criminal damage & arson sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 6,947 | 26.8 | 38.6 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 5,050 | 19.5 | 17.5 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 2,207 | 8.5 | 10.3 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 2,126 | 8.2 | 4.9 |
| Other theft | not graded | 1,527 | 5.9 | 6.6 |
| Public order | not graded | 1,349 | 5.2 | 7.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 1,180 | 4.5 | 3.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 981 | 3.8 | 7.5 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 826 | 3.2 | 3.4 |
| Robbery | Violent | 561 | 2.2 | 1.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 447 | 1.7 | 0.7 |
| Other crime | not graded | 315 | 1.2 | 2.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 181 | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 94 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
“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 and cities of 50,000 or more.
Lowest recorded crime in Hacton, Cranham and Emerson Park; highest in St Alban's
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hacton | 8,494 | 11.8 | 10 | |
| Cranham | 12,986 | 12.5 | 10.9 | |
| Emerson Park | 9,535 | 15 | 12.5 | |
| Hylands & Harrow Lodge | 13,758 | 16.1 | 14.7 | |
| Upminster | 12,258 | 13.9 | 18.2 | |
| Squirrels Heath | 15,512 | 19.8 | 14.1 | |
| Havering-atte-Bower | 15,659 | 23.2 | 14.4 | |
| Elm Park | 16,641 | 24.8 | 14 | |
| Harold Wood | 13,555 | 21.1 | 17.7 | |
| Mawneys | 14,480 | 24.6 | 16 | |
| South Hornchurch | 10,885 | 23.7 | 17.9 | |
| St Andrew's | 14,657 | 25.2 | 18.6 | |
| Marshalls & Rise Park | 12,948 | 30 | 16.7 | |
| Rainham & Wennington | 13,281 | 30 | 20.7 | |
| Heaton | 17,209 | 35.1 | 19.5 | |
| Rush Green & Crowlands | 15,586 | 40.6 | 19.8 | |
| Gooshays | 17,782 | 40.1 | 21.3 | |
| St Edward's | 10,422 | 51.1 | 22.6 | |
| Beam Park | 4,883 | 63 | 50.9 | |
| St Alban's | 8,740 | 84.1 | 31.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 4,902 | 57% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 4,028 | 47% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 2,566 | 30% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 1,988 | 42% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 696 | 36% violent |
| Hospitals | 651 | 49% violent |
| Nightclubs | 542 | 44% violent |
| Bus and coach stations | 426 | 64% anti-social behaviour |
| College and university buildings | 224 | 51% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so St Alban's records 3.1× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Havering. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Havering. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Havering’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Police in Havering identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 84% of Havering’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 37% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (45% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 6% of violent and 2% 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. 13,227 crimes.
Havering places 8th of 49 towns its size, the least crime first
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond upon Thames London | 192,888 | 18.8 | 17.9 | 15.9 | C+ |
| 2 | Harrow London | 260,534 | 23.3 | 15.4 | 16 | C+ |
| 3 | Merton London | 214,931 | 24.2 | 14.8 | 16.1 | C+ |
| 4 | Sutton London | 208,858 | 27.1 | 14.6 | 13.3 | C |
| 5 | Bexley London | 246,074 | 26.1 | 17.5 | 14.3 | C |
| 6 | Bromley London | 325,469 | 25.7 | 20.8 | 17.4 | C |
| 7 | Wandsworth London | 326,725 | 27.7 | 18.9 | 23 | C |
| 8 | Havering London | 259,401 | 29 | 18.1 | 17.7 | C |
| 9 | Swindon Wiltshire | 183,687 | 35.7 | 12.3 | 13.8 | C− |
| 10 | Redbridge London | 309,509 | 31.1 | 17.7 | 18.7 | C− |
| 11 | Waltham Forest London | 278,129 | 28.5 | 21 | 23.4 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 49 | Westminster London | 203,571 | 81.4 | 42.3 | 254.6 | 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 Havering, and others in London.
How Havering’s neighbourhoods rank in England
34% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 7% 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.
Havering’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.
Crime in Havering 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 15 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 16 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
How crime in Havering has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling three-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year. In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +6% (towns its size +2%), homes and vehicles -10% (towns its size -5%), shoplifting and theft -3% (towns its size -3%), anti-social behaviour +2% (towns its size -2%).
15 people died in collisions on Havering’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 2,116 collisions with injuries inside Havering in five years, in which 15 people died (4 were pedestrians and 2 were cyclists). 321 people were killed or seriously injured: 95 on foot and 49 on a bicycle.
That is 1.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (1.1, 210 towns).
Counting serious injuries too, Havering had 24.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more (30.3). 30% of them were on foot, against 31% across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more.
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 Havering’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Havering
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Havering | 259,401 | 29 | 18.1 | C |
| Barking and Dagenham | 218,236 | 40.5 | 20 | D |
| Chigwell Row | 2,115 | 30.1 | 15.8 | C |
| Aveley | 9,364 | 34.6 | 20.4 | C− |
| South Ockendon | 22,441 | 36.8 | 16.5 | C− |
| Redbridge | 309,509 | 31.1 | 17.7 | C− |
| West Horndon | 1,648 | 11.6 | 20.5 | B− |
| Brentwood | 55,339 | 26.9 | 17 | C |
Havering records more graded crime per resident than 3 of its 7 neighbours. Chigwell Row, 5 miles away, records 30.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Havering’s 29.
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
- Big public sites inside the boundary. police.uk counted 651 at or near a hospital over three years. They count in Havering’s rate, as they would for any town that has them.
- 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 Havering 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 Havering
Is Havering safe?
Police recorded 29 violent and sexual offences and 18.1 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Havering’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 25% of UK towns. Among 49 UK towns of 182,000 to 350,000 people, Havering is 8th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Havering?
By council ward, Hacton, Cranham and Emerson Park record the least violent and household crime per resident: 11.8, 12.5 and 15 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 84.1 in St Alban's.
Is crime going up in Havering?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime rose 6%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 10%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, violent crime held steady.
Is Havering town centre safe at night?
police.uk placed 542 crimes and reports at or near nightclubs in three years, 44% of them violent, and St Alban's ward records 84.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 of its residents a year. Over the last two years, violent crime peaked in July and was lowest in February.
What is the most common crime in Havering?
Violence & sexual offences: 6,947 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (2,207) and vehicle crime (2,126), with 5,050 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Havering compare with Newham?
Newham records 38.9 violent and sexual offences and 23 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Havering’s 29 and 18.1, 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.