A new interactive map reveals London’s crime hotspots as the Metropolitan Police prepares to cut 1,700 officers and staff.
Figures published by the Office for National Statistics highlight the harsh reality of “substantial tough choices” facing Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s “rapidly shrinking” force.
Around 957,481 crimes were recorded across London in the 12 months to December 2024, a rise of two per cent on the year before.
Westminster had the highest number with 91,380, more than double that of the nearest densely populated borough of Camden (42,569), Newham (39,990), Southwark (39,500), Lambeth (38,116) and Croydon (35,374).
Kingston upon Thames (11,244) had the lowest number of offences recorded in the year up to 2024, followed by Richmond upon Thames (12,065) and Sutton (13,024).
Hundreds of thousands of crimes committed included theft, violence, vehicle theft, drugs, public order, burglary, robbery and sexual offences.
Almost a third of knife crime in England and Wales happens in London with an incident every 30 minutes, according to shock official figures released on Thursday.
The Met recorded 16,789 offences involving a bladed weapon in 2024 – around 46 a day, the ONS said.
The figures show that shoplifting in particular has exploded in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. Offences have more than doubled from 38,768 in 2022 to 89,821 in 2024.
The Met’s £260 million budget shortfall has already let to the axing of 371 safer schools officers transferred into neighbourhood policing teams from May.
Amid an epidemic of violent crime, mobile phone snatches and shoplifting across London, senior officers disbanded units protecting eight Royal Parks, despite fierce opposition from councils and victims.
Retired Chief Superintendent Simon Ovens, a former Met borough commander, warned the force could soon be overwhelmed by a tidal wave of offending with a million reports a year.
He said: “The Met is already struggling to cope as any response team officer will tell you.
“If more cuts are on the way, then its ability to hold the thin blue line will diminish and London will be facing a crimewave.
“Although the Met has had less officers in the past, times have changed and there’s far more crime happening and people’s ability to commit it has never been greater with technology and phones.”
It comes as LBC Radio obtained a leaked memo sent by Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist suggesting he doesn’t think there are enough officers on the beat on Saturdays - a day when pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held in central London.
The Met has dedicated over £60 million and 80,000 officer shifts to policing marches in the capital since October 7, 2023.
A spokesman for the force, which currently has more than 33,200 officers and 11,300 staff, said it was very grateful for the additional funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and Home Office.
“While this new funding decreases our original funding gap from £450 million, it leaves us with a £260 million shortfall and we will have to make substantial tough choices, reducing our size by over 1,700 officers, staff and PCSOs and therefore our services,” she added.
“This places an extraordinary stretch on our dedicated men and women.
“The Commissioner is incredibly grateful and humbled by what they achieve with increased demand and a rapidly shrinking Met.”
On the ONS figures, she said: “Tackling violence remains a top priority for the Met, and we know that reducing knife crime requires the collective effort of policing, local partners, charities and our communities.
“We have already seen some success, reducing the number of personal robberies by over 10 per cent, which makes up a large proportion of knife crime.
“We will continue to work hard, including increasing visible police patrols to deter criminals and proactively targeting those causing the most harm.”
