Crime and Safety in Elephant and Castle, Southwark
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crime in Elephant and Castle is theft from the person, with 1,190 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 68. This is 5% lower than 2025's figure of 1,255 offences and a difference of 4.93 from 2025's crime rate of 73. Elephant and Castle's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 26 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 37% from 2025's figure of 19 crimes.
Elephant and Castle 2026 Crime Scorecard
105% higher, borough crime rate
London
160% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Southwark is 105% higher than London and 160% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Southwark Crime Rate Over Time
| Elephant and Castle | |
| Southwark | |
| London |
Elephant and Castle Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Elephant and Castle 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 Elephant and Castle's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Elephant and Castle up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Elephant and Castle's 22 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
Elephant and Castle • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Elephant and Castle has a crime risk score of 812. This is based on analysis of 22 nearby areas within Elephant and Castle, 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 Elephant and Castle's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Elephant and Castle, crime risk scores are typically around 812, while in Southwark they are average 637.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 838 (707 for Southwark), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 858 (Southwark 758).
Trends in Crime Risk
Elephant and Castle
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 an increase of 9% in Elephant and Castle'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 Elephant and Castle's crime risk score is up by 39%. 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, Elephant and Castle's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 1.2%, 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
Elephant and Castle
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
Elephant and Castle • 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.
Theft From the Person offences have a crime rate of 68 reports per 1,000 people in Elephant and Castle, which is 44 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 1,190 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 232 reports of Robbery in Elephant and Castle, resulting in a crime rate of 13 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 11.
The crime rate for Drugs is 3.06 times the national average at 9.45 reports per 1,000. This is from 166 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Elephant and Castle
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.
Theft From the Person offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 42 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 20 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 110% over this timeframe.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.74 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.34 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 118% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 5.22 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 2.19 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 138% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Elephant and Castle
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.04 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 1.93 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 6% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Elephant and Castle • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Elephant and Castle | Southwark | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 634 | 36.28 | 2.57 | 9,829 | 22.85 | 1.62 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 59 | 3.36 | 4.60 | 1,083 | 2.51 | 3.44 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 102 | 5.83 | 1.86 | 2,363 | 5.50 | 1.76 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 85 | 4.86 | 0.77 | 1,868 | 4.34 | 0.69 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 166 | 9.45 | 3.06 | 1,910 | 4.44 | 1.44 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 39 | 2.22 | 1.20 | 410 | 0.96 | 0.52 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 406 | 23.18 | 4.07 | 5,032 | 11.69 | 2.05 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 26 | 1.47 | 1.73 | 313 | 0.73 | 0.86 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 149 | 8.54 | 1.47 | 2,132 | 4.97 | 0.86 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 232 | 13.26 | 11 | 1,929 | 4.50 | 3.81 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 106 | 6.05 | 0.85 | 2,655 | 6.17 | 0.87 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 1,190 | 68.24 | 44 | 7,000 | 16.27 | 10 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 54 | 3.06 | 0.71 | 2,375 | 5.52 | 1.28 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 663 | 37.93 | 1.25 | 10,185 | 23.68 | 0.78 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Elephant and Castle | Southwark | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 3,277 | 187.45 | 2.60 | 39,255 | 91.28 | 1.27 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 2,930 | 174.53 | 2.38 | 39,196 | 92.58 | 1.25 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 2,696 | 157.80 | 2.11 | 37,556 | 89.47 | 1.19 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 2,167 | 128.53 | 1.64 | 33,943 | 81.34 | 1.03 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 1,725 | 104.08 | 1.39 | 31,440 | 75.64 | 0.98 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 1,452 | 92.01 | 1.35 | 30,126 | 71.59 | 1.04 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 2,023 | 132.60 | 1.80 | 34,529 | 81.32 | 1.10 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 2,151 | 151.12 | 1.99 | 36,454 | 85.93 | 1.13 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 1,907 | 142.80 | 2.02 | 33,431 | 79.24 | 1.11 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 1,705 | 131.40 | 2.07 | 32,158 | 76.64 | 1.20 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 573 | 44.48 | 2.36 | 9,961 | 23.75 | 1.25 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Elephant and Castle Compared to Other Southwark Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Southwark