Crime and Safety in Forest Hill, Lewisham
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in Forest Hill are violence and sexual offences, with 456 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 29. This is 1.9% lower than 2025's figure of 465 offences and a difference of 0.59 from 2025's crime rate of 30. Forest Hill's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 6 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 20% from 2025's figure of 5 crimes.
Forest Hill 2026 Crime Scorecard
20% lower, borough crime rate
London
2.9% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Lewisham is 20% lower than London and 2.9% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Lewisham Crime Rate Over Time
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Forest Hill Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Forest Hill 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 Forest Hill's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Forest Hill up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Forest Hill'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
Forest Hill • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Forest Hill has a crime risk score of 607. This is based on analysis of 13 nearby areas within Forest Hill, 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 Forest Hill's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Forest Hill, crime risk scores are typically around 607, while in Lewisham they are average 624.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 668 (697 for Lewisham), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 720 (Lewisham 752).
Trends in Crime Risk
Forest Hill
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 Forest Hill'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 Forest Hill's crime risk score is up by 9%. 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, Forest Hill's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 1.3%, indicating that the risk profile is going down. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Forest Hill
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
Forest Hill • 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 9.30 reports per 1,000 people in Forest Hill, which is 2.16 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 146 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 36 reports of Robbery in Forest Hill, resulting in a crime rate of 2.28 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.93.
The crime rate for Possession of Weapons is 1.90 times the national average at 0.38 reports per 1,000. This is from 6 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Forest Hill
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 1.58 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 0.50 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 216% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending upwards, though the CrimeRate Index three years ago is too low to measure, and the trend should be reviewed with caution.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Forest Hill
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Shoplifting offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.48 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 1.28 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 62% over this timeframe.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.54 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 1.70 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 68% over this timeframe.
Theft From the Person offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.50 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 0.46 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 9% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Forest Hill • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Forest Hill | Lewisham | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 344 | 21.87 | 1.55 | 7,237 | 23.04 | 1.63 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 10 | 0.64 | 1.56 | 316 | 1.00 | 1.37 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 59 | 3.75 | 1.20 | 1,475 | 4.69 | 1.50 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 106 | 6.74 | 1.07 | 2,021 | 6.44 | 1.03 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 51 | 3.23 | 1.14 | 1,719 | 5.47 | 1.77 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 16 | 1.03 | 0.83 | 442 | 1.41 | 0.76 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 104 | 6.60 | 1.26 | 2,473 | 7.87 | 1.38 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 6 | 0.38 | 1.90 | 327 | 1.07 | 1.26 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 95 | 6.03 | 1.04 | 2,222 | 7.08 | 1.22 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 36 | 2.28 | 1.93 | 1,011 | 3.23 | 2.74 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 57 | 3.62 | 0.51 | 2,614 | 8.33 | 1.17 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 24 | 1.51 | 1.06 | 1,248 | 3.98 | 2.57 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 146 | 9.30 | 2.16 | 2,502 | 7.97 | 1.85 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 456 | 28.98 | 0.95 | 10,720 | 34.15 | 1.12 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Forest Hill | Lewisham | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 1,166 | 74.09 | 1.07 | 29,090 | 92.69 | 1.29 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 1,123 | 71.55 | 0.98 | 29,168 | 93.87 | 1.27 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 1,228 | 78.71 | 1.07 | 29,489 | 95.41 | 1.26 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 1,335 | 86.12 | 1.14 | 27,475 | 89.26 | 1.13 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 1,374 | 88.70 | 1.18 | 26,674 | 86.58 | 1.13 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 1,358 | 86.33 | 1.30 | 26,336 | 84.55 | 1.23 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 1,347 | 84.10 | 1.17 | 26,844 | 85.59 | 1.15 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 1,198 | 74.28 | 1.02 | 26,633 | 85.10 | 1.12 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 1,136 | 70.85 | 1.03 | 24,573 | 78.96 | 1.11 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 1,252 | 78.12 | 1.27 | 24,331 | 78.79 | 1.23 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 358 | 22.28 | 1.22 | 7,760 | 25.19 | 1.32 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Forest Hill Compared to Other Lewisham Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perry Vale | 526 | 50.35 | 32% safer |
| Upper Sydenham | 515 | 65.44 | 12% safer |
| Honor Oak | 948 | 66.16 | 11% safer |
| Sydenham | 792 | 112.01 | 51% more dangerous |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Lewisham