Crime and Safety in Waltham Abbey
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Waltham Abbey is among the top 5 most dangerous small towns in Essex, and is the 26th most dangerous overall out of Essex's 315 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Waltham Abbey in 2026 is 82 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to Essex's overall crime rate, coming in 18% higher than the Essex rate of 69 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Waltham Abbey is the 134th most dangerous small town, and the 940th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In January 2026, Waltham Abbey was the worst small town in Essex for drugs, with 26 crimes reported and a crime rate of 1.0 per 1,000 daytime population. January 2026 was also a bad month for Waltham Abbey residents, when it was Essex's most dangerous small town for public order, recording 17 crimes at a rate of 0.68 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Waltham Abbey are violence and sexual offences, with 877 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 35. This is 6% higher than 2025's figure of 831 offences and a difference of 1.83 from 2025's crime rate of 33. Waltham Abbey's least common crime is theft from the person, with 13 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 18% from 2025's figure of 11 crimes.
Waltham Abbey 2026 Crime Scorecard
Top 5 Most Dangerous
Small Towns, Essex
33% higher, regional crime rate
East of England
14% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Waltham Abbey is 33% higher than the East of England and 14% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Waltham Abbey Crime Rate Over Time
| Waltham Abbey | |
| East of England | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Waltham Abbey Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Waltham Abbey represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.
Use Crime Map
Hover over a point to see a breakdown of crime types recorded at that location. You can also filter by individual crime types, or use a combinations of offences to visualise the data you need.
See How Waltham Abbey Compares
You can compare Waltham Abbey's crime statistics against any other town, village, or city from across the country. Search for a location's name below to see how they stack up.
Introduction to Waltham Abbey's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Waltham Abbey up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Waltham Abbey's 580 postcodes using three area sizes for comparison:
- Within a Five-Minute Walk
- Within a Ten-Minute Walk
- Within a Fifteen-Minute Walk
Individual crime risk scores and index figures are for the 12-month period ending April 2026 unless otherwise stated.
CrimeRate Insights
Looking into a specific address in Waltham Abbey? CrimeRate Insights reports convert raw numbers into practical insight for any location, from single addresses and postcodes, up to major towns and cities.
Crime rates don’t happen by themselves; they follow people and patterns. Where crowds gather - near pubs and late-night venues, around the station, by supermarkets and forecourts - incidents naturally concentrate.
That doesn’t mean an area is "bad"; it usually means footfall is higher.
Your report explores these factors in a calm, non-judgemental way, putting the numbers in context and helping you spot what’s typical for places like this.
Crime Risk Scores
Waltham Abbey • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Waltham Abbey has a crime risk score of 658. This is based on analysis of 580 nearby areas within Waltham Abbey, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.
Crime risk scores are on a scale of 1 to 1,000 and consider the severity of the crimes involved, as determined by sentencing guidelines. A score of 1 represents the lowest risk, and 1,000 the highest risk. This approach ensures that - unlike overall crime rate figures - bicycle theft is not given the same importance in Waltham Abbey's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Waltham Abbey, crime risk scores are typically around 658, while in Essex they are average 496.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 672 (502 for Essex), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 682 (Essex 509).
Trends in Crime Risk
Waltham Abbey
Calculated via Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess, the Seasonality Adjusted line represents the original data with seasonality subtracted, and the Trend line has been plotted unadjusted. Overall trend direction has been identified using the Mann-Kendall trend test, and rate calculated from the slope of the best-fit line identified from linear regression.
The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 1.8% in Waltham Abbey's crime risk score. This is potentially a strong signal of how the crime risk is evolving. Cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Waltham Abbey's crime risk score is down by 1.4%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
Over the last year, Waltham Abbey's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 8%, indicating that the risk profile is going up. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Waltham Abbey
The CrimeRate Index shows how crime rates compare against the national average.
1.0 equals the average
2.0 is double
3.0 triple
0.5 is half and
0.25 a quarter.
Highest Crime Rates
Waltham Abbey • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Excluding other crime and other theft because their geographic location is often not relevant, anti-social behaviour as its definition is too wide, and bicycle theft for its specificity.
Drugs offences have a crime rate of 6.52 reports per 1,000 people in Waltham Abbey, which is 2.11 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 163 crime reports logged by Essex Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Essex Police recorded 225 reports of Vehicle Crime in Waltham Abbey, resulting in a crime rate of 9.00 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 2.09.
The crime rate for Criminal Damage and Arson is 1.41 times the national average at 8.88 reports per 1,000. This is from 222 crime reports reported to Essex Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Waltham Abbey
Excluding other crime and other theft, anti-social behaviour, and bicycle theft, and calculated with the same STL method described in Trends in Crime Risk, using CrimeRate Index figures to identify crime types that are trending above or below the national average, and the analysis timeframe limited to the last three years.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.26 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 1.95 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 16% over this timeframe.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.33 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.83 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 60% over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.78 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 1.49 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 19% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Waltham Abbey
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.26 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 1.84 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 32% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.80 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 0.44 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 82% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.33 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 2.03 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 34% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Waltham Abbey • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Waltham Abbey | Essex | East of England | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 252 | 10.08 | 0.71 | 15,826 | 7.63 | 0.54 | 74,182 | 10.23 | 0.72 |
| Bicycle Theft | 14 | 0.56 | 1.10 | 1,211 | 0.59 | 0.81 | 5,325 | 0.72 | 0.99 |
| Burglary | 71 | 2.84 | 0.91 | 5,328 | 2.58 | 0.82 | 17,593 | 2.42 | 0.77 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 222 | 8.88 | 1.41 | 12,427 | 5.98 | 0.95 | 40,107 | 5.51 | 0.88 |
| Drugs | 163 | 6.52 | 2.11 | 6,807 | 3.27 | 1.06 | 18,935 | 2.59 | 0.84 |
| Other Crime | 53 | 2.12 | 1.15 | 3,330 | 1.61 | 0.87 | 12,241 | 1.70 | 0.92 |
| Other Theft | 127 | 5.08 | 0.89 | 10,377 | 4.98 | 0.88 | 34,703 | 4.78 | 0.84 |
| Possession of Weapons | 14 | 0.56 | 0.78 | 1,752 | 0.84 | 0.99 | 5,931 | 0.83 | 0.98 |
| Public Order | 167 | 6.68 | 1.15 | 10,675 | 5.12 | 0.88 | 32,088 | 4.42 | 0.76 |
| Robbery | 21 | 0.84 | 0.85 | 1,433 | 0.69 | 0.58 | 4,492 | 0.61 | 0.52 |
| Shoplifting | 77 | 3.08 | 0.43 | 13,424 | 6.46 | 0.91 | 43,068 | 5.94 | 0.83 |
| Theft From the Person | 13 | 0.52 | 0.45 | 997 | 0.49 | 0.32 | 3,654 | 0.52 | 0.34 |
| Vehicle Crime | 225 | 9.00 | 2.09 | 10,314 | 4.97 | 1.16 | 27,821 | 3.84 | 0.89 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 877 | 35.15 | 1.16 | 65,641 | 31.56 | 1.04 | 200,684 | 27.65 | 0.91 |
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Total Crime by Year
Waltham Abbey | Essex | East of England | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 2,044 | 81.83 | 1.15 | 143,716 | 69.14 | 0.96 | 446,642 | 61.53 | 0.85 |
| 2025 | 2,037 | 81.74 | 1.12 | 139,780 | 67.68 | 0.91 | 441,082 | 61.31 | 0.83 |
| 2024 | 2,163 | 87.65 | 1.20 | 150,055 | 73.45 | 0.97 | 443,460 | 62.34 | 0.83 |
| 2023 | 2,303 | 94.42 | 1.22 | 162,636 | 80.64 | 1.02 | 474,715 | 67.51 | 0.85 |
| 2022 | 2,330 | 96.23 | 1.27 | 166,739 | 83.60 | 1.09 | 471,617 | 67.78 | 0.88 |
| 2021 | 2,223 | 91.84 | 1.37 | 150,121 | 75.78 | 1.11 | 437,869 | 63.51 | 0.93 |
| 2020 | 2,454 | 101.60 | 1.41 | 162,259 | 82.34 | 1.11 | 465,376 | 67.88 | 0.92 |
| 2019 | 2,123 | 88.40 | 1.19 | 161,365 | 82.25 | 1.08 | 482,539 | 70.87 | 0.93 |
| 2018 | 1,823 | 76.49 | 1.10 | 137,578 | 70.55 | 0.99 | 439,882 | 64.91 | 0.91 |
| 2017 | 1,674 | 70.98 | 1.13 | 122,860 | 63.43 | 0.99 | 396,747 | 58.76 | 0.92 |
| 2016 | 478 | 20.36 | 1.11 | 37,128 | 19.19 | 1.01 | 116,493 | 17.30 | 0.91 |
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Waltham Abbey Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tilbury | 1,762 | 113.42 | 39% more dangerous |
| Chadwell St Mary | 874 | 82.60 | 0.94% more dangerous |
| Myland | 1,737 | 86.51 | 6% more dangerous |
| Harwich | 1,727 | 83.04 | 1.5% more dangerous |
| Waltham Abbey | 2,044 | 81.83 | - |
| Stanway | 974 | 70.06 | 14% safer |
| Epping | 992 | 71.53 | 13% safer |
| South Ockendon | 1,637 | 73.04 | 11% safer |
| Rochford | 848 | 66.24 | 19% safer |
| Chigwell | 883 | 57.64 | 30% safer |
| Maldon | 1,058 | 61.09 | 25% safer |
| Halstead | 835 | 57.76 | 29% safer |
| Heybridge | 420 | 49.71 | 39% safer |
| Buckhurst Hill | 636 | 51.01 | 38% safer |
Comparing Waltham Abbey to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 2.8% safer |
| Waltham Abbey | 81.83 | - |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 1.1% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 2.8% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 20% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 28% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 28% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 30% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 31% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 32% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 53% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
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You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Offences In and Around Waltham Abbey's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Waltham Abbey that are named and have had crimes recorded within their boundaries in the 12 months to Apr 2026.
| Name | ASB | Drugs | Public Order | Robbery | VSO | All Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enfield Island Village | 30 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 35 | 33 |
| Waltham Abbey Leisure Centre | 13 | 9 | 7 | - | 36 | 19 |
| Abbey Gardens | 16 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 19 | 48 |
| The Larsen Recreation Ground | 4 | 3 | 1 | - | 6 | 5 |
| Denny Avenue Allotments | - | - | - | - | 6 | 0 |
| Longfields Allotments | - | 3 | - | - | 4 | 2 |
| Gunpowder Park | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 18 |
| Lee Valley Country Park | 79 | 17 | 18 | 5 | 116 | 144 |
Recent Crimes in Waltham Abbey
The 20 most recent crime reports in Waltham Abbey.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Roundhills | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Haywood Court | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Haywood Court | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Barnes Way | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Flagstaff Road | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Highfield Close | |
| April 2026 | Drugs | On or near The Gladeway | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Lucas Court | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Godwin Close | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Barge Yard | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Monkswood Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near Mallion Court | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near Mallion Court | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Monkswood Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Hospital | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Monkswood Avenue | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Oakwood | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Marle Gardens | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Supermarket |
Methodology & Data Sources
Waltham Abbey Crime Report
Data Sources & Processing
Every month, CrimeRate processes crime reports from data.police.uk, the UK's official provider of open crime report data. Each crime report includes anonymised coordinates, most often "snapped" to the middle of the nearest street, or to the nearest major landmark. The reports also include the month and year the crime was reported, as well as the type of crime.
Data releases on data.police.uk happen once a month, with a two-month delay. This means that, for example, crimes reported in Waltham Abbey during July 2026 will typically become available in September 2026. The latest release is for Apr 2026 and was released in Jun 2026. To provide current and historical crime statistics, CrimeRate processed 61,669,232 crime reports for the latest release.
Waltham Abbey Data Points
For Waltham Abbey, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Office for National Statistics in the December 2023 release of their Parishes and Non Civil Parished Areas dataset, using the PARNCP23CD column value E04004036.
Due to the 2021 Census being conducted during a UK-wide Coronavirus lockdown, the daytime population figures released so far cannot be relied on for purposes such as comparing crime rates. Instead, CrimeRate uses Waltham Abbey's daytime - or "workday" - population of 19,667 from the ONS 2011 Census for calculations throughout the site.
All geographic boundaries use the full resolution - extent of the realm versions where provided to avoid missing crime reports near coastlines and rivers - the banks of the Thames in particular - that would otherwise not be included when using the clipped to the coastline datasets.
Calculating Crime Rates
CrimeRate locates the UK region, county, and town/city/village locality for each crime report, and calculates the crime rate by taking the sum of all crime reports, dividing it by the locality's daytime / "workday" population, and multiplying the result by 1,000 to get the crime rate per 1,000.
Crime Risk Score Calculations
CrimeRate calculates crime counts for local, nearby, and wider areas for every postcode in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The postcodes locations are deduplicated by a process that ensures distinct points are approximately 50 metres apart. This process removes the bias that would otherwise come from counting the same crimes several times in heavily populated areas.
Using a custom algorithm developed in-house, CrimeRate applies a crime severity weighting to each area's crime counts, based on the type of crime reported. This increases or decreases the crime count, or zeroes it out entirely, depending on the crime type. A separate crime severity rate is then calculated, standardised, and scaled to fit the crime risk score range of 1 to 1,000, with 1 being the lowest score, and 1,000 the highest.
Crime risk scores undergo further analysis per town, city, and village plus other areas including police forces and neighbourhoods. CrimeRate uses percentiles to work out the most common range of crime risk scores in each locality. This includes identifying the high and low bounds where approximately 68% of scores fall, and finding the median (50th percentile) for easy reference.
The crime types with a weight of zero are: Anti-Social Behaviour; Bicycle Theft; Other Crime; Other Theft; and Shoplifting. The highest weights to are assigned to Violence & Sexual Offences, and the lowest to Vehicle Crime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Waltham Abbey