Newham recorded the most reported crime in east London last month, with 3,503 cases in October, as the six boroughs together saw 14,040 reports — down on September.
The figures come from the Metropolitan Police’s public tableau and show the number of official crime reports made in each of east London’s six boroughs, as well as the most recurring offence types last month.
Combined, the boroughs of Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest registered 14,040 reports of crime in October 2026. That was down 1.79 per cent from September’s total of 14,296.
October’s busiest borough in terms of reported crime was Newham with 3,503 cases. The total was up slightly from the 3,468 reports made in September.
Theft was the most regularly reported offence in Newham in October with 1,134 reports, followed by violence against the person with 887 reports and vehicle offences with 436 reports. The total number of both theft and vehicle offences were higher than they were in September, whilst violence against the person dropped slightly from 896 reports made in the previous month.
Tower Hamlets was the borough with the next highest crime count with 3,286 in October — down by 5.05 per cent from September’s total of 3,461. Theft, violence against the person and drug offences were the most regular crime types in Tower Hamlets last month, with respective totals of 1,178, 883 and 223. Drug offences was the only one of these three to see an increase from September to October.
In Redbridge, 2,083 criminal reports were made in October — up fractionally from September’s count of 2,050. Violence against the person was the most common crime type in Redbridge last month with 723 reports made, followed by theft with 458 reports made and vehicle offences with 280.
Waltham Forest was next in the October list with a total of 1,814 criminal reports, down from 1,887 in September. Violence against the person was reported the most in Waltham Forest last month with 515 cases. Theft followed closely behind with 497 and vehicle offences next with 200.
With the second least amount of reported crime in October, Barking and Dagenham registered 1,712 reports. This was down slightly from the 1,747 reports seen in September. Violence against the person was reported 591 times in Barking and Dagenham across October, followed by theft 318 times and vehicle offences 195 times. Drug offences and public order offences were also reported over 100 times each.
Following the same order as September, Havering saw the lowest amount of reported crime out of east London’s six boroughs. Havering’s October total sat at 1,642 — fractionally lower than September’s total of 1,683. Violence against the person was reported 552 times, theft 423 times and vehicle offences 139 times. There were fewer reports of violence against the person and vehicle offences in October than in September, whilst reports of theft rose from 407 reports to 423.
The figures are counts of crimes reported to the police, not a measure of every offence committed, and month-to-month changes can reflect reporting patterns as well as underlying crime levels. Newham was the only borough where the total rose in October, while Tower Hamlets saw the sharpest fall in percentage terms.
Newham has been in the news for council action this month, with Newham Council offering council tax relief to Canning Town evacuees, while neighbouring Tower Hamlets was named London’s cheapest borough in October.
