Crime and Safety in Wapping, Tower Hamlets
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crimes in Wapping are violence and sexual offences, with 287 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 15. This is 0.35% lower than 2025's figure of 288 offences and a difference of 0.02 from 2025's crime rate of 15. Wapping's least common crimes are possession of weapons, with 3 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 50% from 2025's figure of 2 crimes.
Wapping 2026 Crime Scorecard
6% higher, borough crime rate
London
1.9% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Tower Hamlets is 6% higher than London and 1.9% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Tower Hamlets Crime Rate Over Time
| Wapping | |
| Tower Hamlets | |
| London |
Wapping Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Wapping 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 Wapping's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Wapping up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Wapping's 16 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
Wapping • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Wapping has a crime risk score of 488. This is based on analysis of 16 nearby areas within Wapping, 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 Wapping's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Wapping, crime risk scores are typically around 488, while in Tower Hamlets they are average 651.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 563 (731 for Tower Hamlets), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 657 (Tower Hamlets 783).
Trends in Crime Risk
Wapping
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 Wapping'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 Wapping's crime risk score is up by 29%. 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.
The risk score trend over the last year has not shown any statistically meaningful movement up or down.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Wapping
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
Wapping • 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 4.44 reports per 1,000 people in Wapping, which is 2.86 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 85 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 146 reports of Burglary in Wapping, resulting in a crime rate of 7.61 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 2.43.
The crime rate for Robbery is 2.26 times the national average at 2.67 reports per 1,000. This is from 51 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Wapping
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.
Shoplifting offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.56 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 0.22 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 155% over this timeframe.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.74 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 0.73 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 1.4% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.70 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 0.24 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 192% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Wapping
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
No significant decreases identified.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Wapping • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Wapping | Tower Hamlets | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 388 | 20.22 | 1.43 | 11,045 | 20.37 | 1.44 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 58 | 3.03 | 4.52 | 998 | 1.83 | 2.51 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 146 | 7.61 | 2.43 | 2,348 | 4.32 | 1.38 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 55 | 2.88 | 0.46 | 2,038 | 3.75 | 0.60 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 73 | 3.81 | 1.23 | 2,887 | 5.33 | 1.72 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 5 | 0.25 | 0.32 | 487 | 0.88 | 0.48 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 242 | 12.64 | 2.22 | 3,938 | 7.25 | 1.27 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 3 | 0.15 | 0.68 | 276 | 0.50 | 0.59 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 66 | 3.45 | 0.59 | 2,774 | 5.10 | 0.88 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 51 | 2.67 | 2.26 | 1,254 | 2.30 | 1.95 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 256 | 13.35 | 1.87 | 3,417 | 6.30 | 0.88 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 85 | 4.44 | 2.86 | 2,766 | 5.10 | 3.29 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 78 | 4.08 | 0.95 | 2,596 | 4.78 | 1.11 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 287 | 14.96 | 0.49 | 11,709 | 21.59 | 0.71 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Wapping | Tower Hamlets | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 1,405 | 73.32 | 1.04 | 37,488 | 69.03 | 0.96 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 1,111 | 57.68 | 0.80 | 35,452 | 65.28 | 0.88 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 1,038 | 54.57 | 0.74 | 35,635 | 66.28 | 0.88 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 721 | 37.17 | 0.51 | 32,620 | 60.85 | 0.77 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 839 | 43.91 | 0.61 | 32,196 | 60.98 | 0.79 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 746 | 40.05 | 0.63 | 30,170 | 57.64 | 0.84 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 902 | 48.45 | 0.70 | 31,037 | 59.21 | 0.80 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 1,032 | 56.90 | 0.80 | 33,866 | 64.76 | 0.85 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 797 | 45.40 | 0.68 | 31,349 | 60.39 | 0.85 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 894 | 52.66 | 0.84 | 30,223 | 59.43 | 0.93 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 229 | 13.69 | 0.76 | 8,887 | 17.61 | 0.92 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Wapping Compared to Other Tower Hamlets Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tower Hill | 317 | 79.95 | 9% more dangerous |
| Shadwell | 1,291 | 92.23 | 26% more dangerous |
| Whitechapel | 5,811 | 92.73 | 26% more dangerous |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Tower Hamlets