Which east London borough had the most crime in March 2026?

Reported crime across the east of the capital rose substantially by 10.21 per cent from 12,409 reports in February to 13,677 in March.

Each of the six east London boroughs saw a rise in reported criminal offences in March compared to the previous month.

As was the case in January and February this year, Newham had the highest crime count with 3,514 reports made in March.

This was up by 12.05pc from 3,136 reports in February.

The most recurring crime type in Newham during March was theft with 1,143 reports, followed by violence against the person with 975 reports before a large drop-off to the third most recurring crime - vehicle offences with 357 cases.

Newham's total number of reported thefts in March was the only crime type to be reported more than 1,000 times in any east London borough according to the data.

Tower Hamlets had the second most reported crime in March with 2,965 reports made.

This was up by 9.16pc from the 2,716 reports made in February.

A total of 891 of the reports made in Tower Hamlets in March were for violence against the person whilst 830 were for theft and 244 for vehicle offences.

In both Newham and Tower Hamlets, violence against the person and theft were up in frequency from February whilst vehicle offences were down.

The east London borough with the third highest crime count last month was Waltham Forest with a total of 1,894.

Violence against the person, theft and vehicle offences were again the top three contributors to Waltham Forest's crime count with 557, 499 and 207 reports made respectively.

Each of these crime types saw increases from February.

Redbridge's crime count for March was up by 8.38pc from 1,848 in February to 2,003.

The highest contributing crime types across east London remained the same with violence against the person leading the way with 698 reports made in Redbridge, followed by theft with 490 cases and vehicle offences with 219.

Barking and Dagenham saw 1,692 criminal reports made last month - up by 17.66pc from February.

This was the largest percentage increase between the two months across east London.

Violence against the person contributed to 617 of these reports, followed by theft with 280 cases and 194 reports of vehicle offences.

Each of these saw increased totals from February.

Robbery was up significantly (81.39pc) in Barking and Dagenham, as were public order offences (up by 31.86pc).

Havering had the lowest total of reported crime in east London in March with 1,609 reports made.

The three most common crime types were all up from February - a total of 537 reports were made of violence against the person whilst 354 were made of theft and 179 of vehicle offences.

Reports of sexual offences were also up in Havering by 30pc from February to March whilst drug offences, burglary and weapon possession all saw lower totals in March.