Crime and Safety in Purley, Croydon
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in Purley are violence and sexual offences, with 550 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 26. This is 8% higher than 2025's figure of 507 offences and a difference of 2.07 from 2025's crime rate of 24. Purley's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 5 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 67% from 2025's figure of 3 crimes.
Purley 2026 Crime Scorecard
11% lower, borough crime rate
London
6% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Croydon is 11% lower than London and 6% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Croydon Crime Rate Over Time
| Purley | |
| Croydon | |
| London |
Purley Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Purley 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.
Introduction to Purley's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Purley up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Purley's 13 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.
Crime Risk Scores
Purley • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Purley has a crime risk score of 446. This is based on analysis of 13 nearby areas within Purley, 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 Purley's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Purley, crime risk scores are typically around 446, while in Croydon they are average 509.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 539 (593 for Croydon), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 619 (Croydon 653).
Trends in Crime Risk
Purley
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 7% in Purley'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 Purley's crime risk score is up by 24%. 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, Purley's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 11%, 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
Purley
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
Purley • 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.
Vehicle Crime offences have a crime rate of 7.74 reports per 1,000 people in Purley, which is 1.80 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 161 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 39 reports of Robbery in Purley, resulting in a crime rate of 1.90 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.76.
The crime rate for Burglary is 1.32 times the national average at 4.14 reports per 1,000. This is from 86 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Purley
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.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.75 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 0.67 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 12% over this timeframe.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.21 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.23 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 426% over this timeframe.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.54 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.71 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 24% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Purley
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.63 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 1.33 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 23% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Purley • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Purley | Croydon | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 317 | 15.25 | 1.08 | 8,968 | 20.01 | 1.42 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 5 | 0.25 | 1.25 | 194 | 0.43 | 0.59 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 86 | 4.14 | 1.32 | 1,768 | 3.96 | 1.27 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 111 | 5.35 | 0.85 | 2,552 | 5.71 | 0.91 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 81 | 3.90 | 1.26 | 2,171 | 4.84 | 1.57 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 19 | 0.93 | 0.60 | 539 | 1.21 | 0.65 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 122 | 5.86 | 1.03 | 2,651 | 5.93 | 1.04 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 6 | 0.30 | 0.83 | 307 | 0.69 | 0.81 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 100 | 4.81 | 0.83 | 2,472 | 5.52 | 0.95 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 39 | 1.90 | 1.76 | 1,044 | 2.33 | 1.97 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 91 | 4.39 | 0.62 | 3,176 | 7.09 | 0.99 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 29 | 1.39 | 0.99 | 820 | 1.80 | 1.16 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 161 | 7.74 | 1.80 | 3,464 | 7.71 | 1.79 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 550 | 26.45 | 0.87 | 12,683 | 28.30 | 0.93 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Purley | Croydon | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 1,400 | 67.41 | 0.96 | 33,841 | 75.52 | 1.05 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 1,301 | 63.05 | 0.88 | 34,596 | 77.25 | 1.04 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 1,242 | 61.43 | 0.85 | 34,077 | 76.73 | 1.02 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 1,300 | 65.09 | 0.85 | 32,200 | 73.78 | 0.93 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 1,214 | 61.61 | 0.82 | 32,338 | 74.92 | 0.98 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 1,144 | 58.34 | 0.88 | 30,660 | 71.03 | 1.04 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 1,188 | 60.65 | 0.85 | 31,509 | 72.78 | 0.98 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 1,217 | 61.77 | 0.84 | 30,622 | 71.20 | 0.93 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 1,101 | 55.35 | 0.82 | 29,708 | 69.22 | 0.97 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 976 | 48.80 | 0.80 | 29,590 | 68.98 | 1.08 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 371 | 18.55 | 1.02 | 9,064 | 21.14 | 1.11 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Purley Compared to Other Croydon Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodcote | 17 | 44.23 | 34% safer |
| Coulsdon North | 595 | 58.25 | 14% safer |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Croydon