Crime and Safety in Poplar, Tower Hamlets
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in Poplar are violence and sexual offences, with 1,162 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 34. This is 4.1% higher than 2025's figure of 1,116 offences and a difference of 1.38 from 2025's crime rate of 33. Poplar's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 37 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 23% from 2025's figure of 30 crimes.
Poplar 2026 Crime Scorecard
49% higher, borough crime rate
London
43% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Tower Hamlets is 49% higher than London and 43% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Tower Hamlets Crime Rate Over Time
| Poplar | |
| Tower Hamlets | |
| London |
Poplar Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Poplar 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 Poplar's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Poplar up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Poplar's 31 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
Poplar • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Poplar has a crime risk score of 688. This is based on analysis of 31 nearby areas within Poplar, 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 Poplar's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Poplar, crime risk scores are typically around 688, while in Tower Hamlets they are average 651.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 746 (731 for Tower Hamlets), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 791 (Tower Hamlets 783).
Trends in Crime Risk
Poplar
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 9% in Poplar'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 Poplar's crime risk score is up by 21%. 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, Poplar'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
Poplar
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
Poplar • 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 6.46 reports per 1,000 people in Poplar, which is 4.17 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 219 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 133 reports of Robbery in Poplar, resulting in a crime rate of 3.91 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 3.31.
The crime rate for Vehicle Crime is 3.17 times the national average at 14 reports per 1,000. This is from 461 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Poplar
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 6.42 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 1.85 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 247% over this timeframe.
Violence and Sexual Offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.19 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Violence and Sexual Offences CrimeRate Index was 1.06 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 12% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 2.40 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 3.67 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 35% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Poplar
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
No significant decreases identified.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Poplar • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Poplar | Tower Hamlets | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 1,022 | 30.16 | 2.13 | 11,045 | 20.37 | 1.44 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 43 | 1.29 | 1.90 | 998 | 1.83 | 2.51 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 213 | 6.28 | 2.01 | 2,348 | 4.32 | 1.38 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 230 | 6.78 | 1.08 | 2,038 | 3.75 | 0.60 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 236 | 6.95 | 2.25 | 2,887 | 5.33 | 1.72 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 48 | 1.44 | 0.78 | 487 | 0.88 | 0.48 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 271 | 7.99 | 1.40 | 3,938 | 7.25 | 1.27 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 37 | 1.11 | 1.31 | 276 | 0.50 | 0.59 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 218 | 6.42 | 1.11 | 2,774 | 5.10 | 0.88 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 133 | 3.91 | 3.31 | 1,254 | 2.30 | 1.95 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 223 | 6.57 | 0.92 | 3,417 | 6.30 | 0.88 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 219 | 6.46 | 4.17 | 2,766 | 5.10 | 3.29 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 461 | 13.62 | 3.17 | 2,596 | 4.78 | 1.11 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 1,162 | 34.29 | 1.13 | 11,709 | 21.59 | 0.71 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
Download | |||||||||
Total Crime by Year
Poplar | Tower Hamlets | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 3,494 | 103.11 | 1.43 | 37,488 | 69.03 | 0.96 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 2,905 | 86.35 | 1.17 | 35,452 | 65.28 | 0.88 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 2,702 | 81.02 | 1.08 | 35,635 | 66.28 | 0.88 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 2,682 | 80.59 | 1.03 | 32,620 | 60.85 | 0.77 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 2,700 | 83.02 | 1.10 | 32,196 | 60.98 | 0.79 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 2,906 | 92.17 | 1.35 | 30,170 | 57.64 | 0.84 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 2,590 | 83.44 | 1.13 | 31,037 | 59.21 | 0.80 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 2,656 | 86.81 | 1.14 | 33,866 | 64.76 | 0.85 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 2,542 | 85.87 | 1.21 | 31,349 | 60.39 | 0.85 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 2,650 | 90.82 | 1.43 | 30,223 | 59.43 | 0.93 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 905 | 31.01 | 1.63 | 8,887 | 17.61 | 0.92 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
Download | |||||||||
Poplar Compared to Other Tower Hamlets Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canary Wharf | 1,539 | 28.47 | 72% safer |
| Blackwall | 965 | 61.47 | 40% safer |
| Bow Common | 2,618 | 92.75 | 10% safer |
| Bromley-by-Bow | 1,500 | 104.91 | 1.7% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
To download charts and tables, you must subscribed to CrimeRate Pro
You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Tower Hamlets