Crime and Safety in Catford, Lewisham
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in Catford are violence and sexual offences, with 1,363 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 34. This is 3.0% higher than 2025's figure of 1,323 offences and a difference of 0.97 from 2025's crime rate of 33. Catford's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 30 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 15% from 2025's figure of 26 crimes.
Catford 2026 Crime Scorecard
11% lower, borough crime rate
London
14% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Lewisham is 11% lower than London and 14% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Lewisham Crime Rate Over Time
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| Lewisham | |
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Catford Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Catford 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 Catford's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Catford up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Catford's 45 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
Catford • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Catford has a crime risk score of 664. This is based on analysis of 45 nearby areas within Catford, 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 Catford's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Catford, crime risk scores are typically around 664, while in Lewisham they are average 624.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 740 (697 for Lewisham), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 792 (Lewisham 752).
Trends in Crime Risk
Catford
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.
No trend could be found in Catford's crime risk scores over the last 10 years, and the trend may well be static.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Catford's crime risk score is up by 13%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Over the last year, Catford's crime risk score has shown an upward trend of approximately 0.74%, 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
Catford
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
Catford • 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.
Robbery offences have a crime rate of 2.83 reports per 1,000 people in Catford, which is 2.40 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 114 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 219 reports of Drugs in Catford, resulting in a crime rate of 5.45 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.76.
The crime rate for Vehicle Crime is 1.59 times the national average at 6.85 reports per 1,000. This is from 276 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Catford
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.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.08 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 30% over this timeframe.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.43 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Possession of Weapons CrimeRate Index was 0.71 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 242% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Catford
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Criminal Damage and Arson offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.15 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Criminal Damage and Arson CrimeRate Index was 0.97 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 19% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.88 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 2.23 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 16% over this timeframe.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.77 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 1.64 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 8% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Catford • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Catford | Lewisham | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 919 | 22.83 | 1.62 | 7,237 | 23.04 | 1.63 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 30 | 0.72 | 0.99 | 316 | 1.00 | 1.37 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 154 | 3.83 | 1.22 | 1,475 | 4.69 | 1.50 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 240 | 5.97 | 0.95 | 2,021 | 6.44 | 1.03 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 219 | 5.45 | 1.76 | 1,719 | 5.47 | 1.77 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 61 | 1.50 | 0.81 | 442 | 1.41 | 0.76 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 262 | 6.51 | 1.14 | 2,473 | 7.87 | 1.38 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 49 | 1.20 | 1.41 | 327 | 1.07 | 1.26 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 250 | 6.21 | 1.07 | 2,222 | 7.08 | 1.22 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 114 | 2.83 | 2.40 | 1,011 | 3.23 | 2.74 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 198 | 4.91 | 0.69 | 2,614 | 8.33 | 1.17 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 98 | 2.41 | 1.55 | 1,248 | 3.98 | 2.57 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 276 | 6.85 | 1.59 | 2,502 | 7.97 | 1.85 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 1,363 | 33.84 | 1.11 | 10,720 | 34.15 | 1.12 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Catford | Lewisham | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 3,314 | 82.23 | 1.14 | 29,090 | 92.69 | 1.29 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 3,374 | 87.38 | 1.18 | 29,168 | 93.87 | 1.27 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 3,581 | 95.17 | 1.26 | 29,489 | 95.41 | 1.26 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 3,182 | 85.44 | 1.08 | 27,475 | 89.26 | 1.13 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 3,409 | 91.75 | 1.20 | 26,674 | 86.58 | 1.13 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 3,343 | 88.77 | 1.30 | 26,336 | 84.55 | 1.23 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 3,108 | 82.19 | 1.11 | 26,844 | 85.59 | 1.15 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 3,081 | 81.93 | 1.08 | 26,633 | 85.10 | 1.12 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 2,914 | 77.92 | 1.10 | 24,573 | 78.96 | 1.11 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 2,851 | 76.66 | 1.21 | 24,331 | 78.79 | 1.23 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 967 | 26.03 | 1.37 | 7,760 | 25.19 | 1.32 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Catford Compared to Other Lewisham Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee | 682 | 69.02 | 16% safer |
| Bell Green | 225 | 80.65 | 1.9% safer |
| Downham | 1,776 | 95.17 | 16% more dangerous |
| Bellingham | 1,161 | 121.36 | 48% more dangerous |
| Hither Green | 2,948 | 126.52 | 54% more dangerous |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Lewisham