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London's burglary hot spots
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor25 Mar 2008
A residential district of Kentish Town is London's worst burglary hot spot, according to Met figures.
The Cantelowes ward, a part of Camden which contains a mix of large privately owned Victorian homes and council flats, achieved the unwanted position after suffering more than 24 burglaries for every 1,000 residents last year.
The next three districts with the highest rate of break-ins were all in Haringey, while parts of Hillingdon, Barnet, Southwark, Islington and Hammersmith and Fulham were also in the top 10.
By contrast, the safest homes in the capital were in the Eastbrook ward of Barking and Dagenham, which had only 1.68 break-ins per 1,000 residents. Parts of Kingston, Sutton and Bromley did almost as well.
The figures show the London local authority wards with the highest and lowest rates of burglary during the past year. They reveal that despite recent police success in cutting the overall number of break-ins, some areas continue to be blighted.
The Cantelowes figure of 24.21 burglaries per 1,000 residents equates to around 250 offences and means that roughly five per cent of homes in the ward were broken into during the year. One possible explanation for the high burglary rate could be the large number of shared houses and converted flats in the area, which together account for half the accommodation in Cantelowes.
The area also contains several large local authority estates, including St Pancras Way and Maiden Lane.
Around a third of all properties in the ward are owned by Camden council.
Other wards shown to be blighted by burglary were Tottenham Green, St Ann's and Harringay in Haringey, which had 21, 20 and 19 burglaries per 1,000 residents respectively.
The Yiewsley ward in Hillingdon, Childs Hill in Barnet and East Walworth in Southwark had the next worst rates, each with more than 18 break- ins per 1 , 000 residents.
They were followed by Canonbury in Islington, Stroud Green in Haringey and the Munster district of Hammersmith and Fulham.
Other areas with high burglary rates included Blackheath Westcombe and Greenwich West, both in Greenwich, Harrow Road in Westminster and Herne Hill, Thurlow Park and St Leonard's in Lambeth. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Eastbrook ward in Barking and Dagenham had the lowest rate of burglaries, followed by Chessington South and Coombe Vale in Kingston. All three had fewer than two break-ins per 1,000 residents, with Eastbrook's figure of 1.68 more than 14 times better than the Cantelowes rate.
Other areas with fewer than
2.5 burglaries per 1,000 inhabitants were Berrylands, also in Kingston, Stonecot and Cheam in Sutton and Biggin Hill in Bromley.
The only inner London wards in the top 20 lowest burglary rates were Vincent Square and Regent's Park, both in Westminster.
The remaining top 20 places were taken by other areas of Kingston, Bromley or Sutton - except for the West Barnes ward in Merton, which had 2.51 break-ins per 1,000 residents, the eighth best rate.
The figures, which cover the 12 months to the end of February, show there were 59,954 residential burglaries across the capital during the year.
That is half a per cent down on the number for the previous 12 months, but three per cent lower than the comparable figure two years ago and 16 per cent down on the London burglary total six years ago.
Most burglaries
| Wards with the Most Residential Burglaries during 2007 | |
| Ward Borough | Number of Residential Burglaries Offences recorded per 1,000 population |
| Cantelowes Camden | 24.21 |
| Tottenham Green Haringey | 21.23 |
| St. Anns' Haringey | 20.31 |
| Harringay Haringey | 19.00 |
| Yiewsley Hillingdon | 18.81 |
| Childs Hill Barnet | 18.60 |
| East Walworth Southwark | 18.25 |
| Canonbury Islington | 17.58 |
| Stroud Green Haringey | 17.14 |
| Munster Hammersmith & Fulham | 16.90 |
| West Hendon Barnet | 16.86 |
| Blackheath Westcombe Greenwich | 16.61 |
| St. Leonards' Lambeth | 15.96 |
| Herne Hill Lambeth | 15.76 |
| Thurlow Park Lambeth | 15.61 |
| Greenwich West Greenwich | 15.50 |
| Erith Bexley | 15.49 |
| Harrow Road Westminster | 15.43 |
| AskewHammersmith & Fulham | 15.40 |
| St. Georges' Islington | 15.39 |
Fewest burglaries
| Wards with the Fewest Residential Burglaries during 2007 | |
| Ward Borough | Number of Residential Burglaries Offences recorded per 1,000 population |
| Eastbrook Barking & Dagenham | 1.68 |
| Chessington South Kingston upon Thames | 1.69 |
| Coombe Vale Kingston upon Thames | 1.94 |
| BerrylandsKingston upon Thames | 2.16 |
| Stonecot Sutton | 2.23 |
| Biggin Hill Bromley | 2.27 |
| Cheam Sutton | 2.37 |
| West Barnes Merton | 2.51 |
| Coombe Hill Kingston upon Thames | 2.52 |
| Beverley Kingston upon Thames | 2.53 |
| Vincent Square Westminster | 2.55 |
| Farnborough and Crofton Bromley | 2.61 |
| Hayes and Coney Hall Bromley | 2.61 |
| Chessington North and HookKingston upon Thames | 2.75 |
| Old Malden Kingston upon Thames | 2.77 |
| St. Marks' Kingston upon Thames | 2.80 |
| Nonsuch Sutton | 2.85 |
| Petts Wood and KnolBromley | 2.86 |
| Regents Park' Westminster | 2.90 |
| Beddington North Sutton | 2.92 |
Reader views (6)
I am a neighbour hood watch coordinator in the Eastbrook Ward and would like to say what a great job our safer neighbour team do in our area.
Their presence makes you feel safer and any issues or major problems that could lead to crime and dealt with swiftly and efficiently and the team work very closely alongside our local authority.
Well done to the Eastbrook Ward
- Karen Lesurf, Romford, Essex, 27/03/2008 23:16
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I am pleased that Eastbrook Ward of Barking & Dagenham has had such few reported burglaries. As the supervisor of the Eastbrook Safer neighbourhood team I would like to praise the work under taken by the teams partners from the local authority. Worthy of merit also is the undivided support that local residents, Neighbourhood Watch members & residents Assoc have aided our fight against crime. Neighbourhood teams are at the heart of every community. They are the peoples constables & support officers, walking their beats daily gaining insight as to the problems faced by the wards residents. This simple yet effective measure brings back for many the memories of a 'Dixon of Dock Green' style of policing. Paper work burdens us more than ever but simple tactics, effective patrols by uniformed officers provides that much needed public reassurance & deterrent. Would you commit crime with a copper on your street corner. I hope not. Again, for all those who have endeavoured to help make your neighbourhoods, your homes & schools safer. I salute you!. For more information as to how you can help your local Safer Neighbourhood team please contact your local police station of visit the Metropolitan police services web page.
- Mr Lee, Eastbrook SNT Met police, 27/03/2008 20:53
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Although my borough does not feature in these lists, the local police station is about to be closed and the council has recently seen fit to liberally sprinkle residential streets nearby with bright yellow signs strapped to lamp posts announcing "They want your i-pod" accompanied by images of shadowy figures... Could we please just have a few more police or even community officers walking the streets?
- Headhunter, London, 26/03/2008 09:27
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As a resident in one of the bad wards and chair of a crime prevention charity, I am not surprised as we have no crime prevention officer or a designing out crime officer any more and they are not going to be replaced. This is happening all over London. Those officers who remain are very demoralised as the ACPO figures show they can reduce crime by 50%
- Richard Moore, London, 25/03/2008 17:42
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I'm guessing the reason Sutton and Cheam fared so well was the thieves were scared off by the PCSO's who seem to spend all their timing riding between Worcester Park and Sutton on the bus, doing their best to ignore anyone under age drinking.
- Bob Inferapples, Cheam, 25/03/2008 14:42
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I understand police numbers are being cut drastically in London. No wonder burglars are returning to these areas.
- Georgie, Islington, London, 25/03/2008 12:21
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