Crime and Safety in Charing Cross, Westminster
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
The most common crime in Charing Cross is theft from the person, with 234 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 111. This is 18% lower than 2025's figure of 284 offences and a difference of 22.87 from 2025's crime rate of 134. Charing Cross'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.
Charing Cross 2026 Crime Scorecard
178% higher, borough crime rate
London
383% higher, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Westminster is 178% higher than London and 383% higher than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Westminster Crime Rate Over Time
| Charing Cross | |
| Westminster | |
| London |
Charing Cross Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Charing Cross 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 Charing Cross's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Charing Cross up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Charing Cross's 28 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
Charing Cross • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Charing Cross has a crime risk score of 904. This is based on analysis of 28 nearby areas within Charing Cross, 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 Charing Cross's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Charing Cross, crime risk scores are typically around 904, while in Westminster they are average 690.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 928 (761 for Westminster), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 926 (Westminster 804).
Trends in Crime Risk
Charing Cross
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 11% in Charing Cross'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 Charing Cross's crime risk score is up by 24%. 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, Charing Cross's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 7%, 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
Charing Cross
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
Charing Cross • 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 111 reports per 1,000 people in Charing Cross, which is 72 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 234 crime reports logged by Metropolitan Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Metropolitan Police recorded 46 reports of Robbery in Charing Cross, resulting in a crime rate of 22 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 19.
The crime rate for Drugs is 7.62 times the national average at 21 reports per 1,000. This is from 45 crime reports reported to Metropolitan Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Charing Cross
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 - for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 1.92 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a near-complete decrease over this timeframe.
Public Order offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 3.04 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Public Order CrimeRate Index was 1.50 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 103% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Charing Cross
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Theft From the Person offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 40 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Theft From the Person CrimeRate Index was 110 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 63% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 4.90 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 27 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 82% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 6.35 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 23 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 72% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Charing Cross • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Charing Cross | Westminster | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 51 | 24.26 | 1.84 | 13,374 | 22.23 | 1.57 | 235,985 | 21.68 | 1.53 |
| Bicycle Theft | 5 | 2.37 | 8.17 | 935 | 1.56 | 2.14 | 13,695 | 1.26 | 1.73 |
| Burglary | 16 | 7.61 | 3.61 | 2,618 | 4.36 | 1.39 | 47,359 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 23 | 10.97 | 2.62 | 2,216 | 3.68 | 0.59 | 54,098 | 4.99 | 0.79 |
| Drugs | 45 | 21.49 | 7.62 | 2,933 | 4.90 | 1.59 | 53,167 | 4.87 | 1.58 |
| Other Crime | 4 | 1.95 | 4.15 | 487 | 0.79 | 0.43 | 13,008 | 1.19 | 0.64 |
| Other Theft | 145 | 69.12 | 12 | 15,647 | 26.00 | 4.57 | 97,452 | 8.97 | 1.58 |
| Possession of Weapons | 3 | 1.43 | 6.81 | 357 | 0.61 | 0.72 | 6,443 | 0.60 | 0.71 |
| Public Order | 39 | 18.54 | 3.20 | 3,643 | 6.06 | 1.04 | 60,049 | 5.52 | 0.95 |
| Robbery | 46 | 21.88 | 19 | 2,960 | 4.93 | 4.18 | 30,804 | 2.83 | 2.40 |
| Shoplifting | 10 | 4.76 | 1.01 | 8,025 | 13.34 | 1.87 | 87,976 | 8.09 | 1.13 |
| Theft From the Person | 234 | 111.40 | 72 | 19,993 | 33.21 | 21 | 77,160 | 7.11 | 4.59 |
| Vehicle Crime | 48 | 22.80 | 6.28 | 2,950 | 4.90 | 1.14 | 81,755 | 7.50 | 1.74 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 112 | 53.36 | 1.76 | 12,434 | 20.68 | 0.68 | 273,434 | 25.12 | 0.83 |
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Total Crime by Year
Charing Cross | Westminster | London | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 730 | 347.68 | 5.51 | 75,198 | 125.02 | 1.74 | 896,400 | 82.39 | 1.14 |
| 2025 | 944 | 447.57 | 6.96 | 84,643 | 140.59 | 1.90 | 896,961 | 83.23 | 1.12 |
| 2024 | 1,139 | 543.47 | 8.07 | 88,968 | 147.25 | 1.95 | 900,986 | 84.38 | 1.12 |
| 2023 | 1,131 | 517.41 | 7.37 | 78,518 | 128.70 | 1.63 | 835,471 | 78.98 | 1.00 |
| 2022 | 1,032 | 458.52 | 6.68 | 58,005 | 94.08 | 1.22 | 795,646 | 75.77 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 294 | 130.46 | 2.76 | 35,055 | 56.33 | 0.82 | 727,983 | 69.09 | 1.01 |
| 2020 | 963 | 431.35 | 6.98 | 65,976 | 104.48 | 1.41 | 819,467 | 77.66 | 1.05 |
| 2019 | 820 | 391.80 | 6.01 | 68,821 | 108.65 | 1.42 | 849,310 | 80.70 | 1.06 |
| 2018 | 560 | 270.75 | 4.63 | 55,337 | 86.22 | 1.21 | 810,063 | 77.08 | 1.08 |
| 2017 | 423 | 199.07 | 4.00 | 49,364 | 76.37 | 1.19 | 758,160 | 72.41 | 1.13 |
| 2016 | 138 | 64.67 | 4.34 | 15,072 | 23.30 | 1.22 | 234,565 | 22.42 | 1.18 |
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Charing Cross Compared to Other Westminster Neighbourhoods
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Neighbourhood | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. James's | 2,170 | 74.77 | 78% safer |
| Whitehall | 802 | 85.06 | 76% safer |
| Covent Garden | 4,073 | 246.87 | 29% safer |
| Chinatown | 1,427 | 378.15 | 9% more dangerous |
| Leicester Square | 2,582 | 1184.78 | 241% more dangerous |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Westminster