Stand and deliver

The Clash, one of the greatest bands to come out of London, sang I Fought The Law And The Law Won, but I don’t think London’s muggers have any reason to be singing that going by some of the stats released about muggings and street robberies in the capital’s 32 boroughs.

Across the whole of London only about 13% of muggings are solved and living in a wealthy area doesn’t necessarily mean the detection rate will be good. As you’d probably expect in a big city the safest boroughs in regard to getting your wallet or purse ripped off in London are the outer suburban ones.

Kingston upon Thames down there below Richmond on the banks of the river had the lowest number of street robberies and the most apprehensions, 26.9%. Havering, Bexley, Sutton and Richmond, all outer London boroughs were close to Kingston’s number of muggings, with 12-18% being solved.

The hot spots to watch out for are the three boroughs on the southern bank of the Thames in the centre of London, Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham. Southwark gets 9 times as many muggings as Kingston and the other two are not far behind. Guess that’s why cabbies will never go south of the river.
Newham in east London, Haringey and Waltham Forest in the north and Brent, northwest of Westminster and Camden, are the boroughs where the pickings seem to be good.

Being in a wealthy borough doesn’t guarantee you not getting your stuff pinched. Westminster with all the government buildings, tourist attractions and security still gets more than half as many muggings as Southwark, Kensington and Chelsea is better, less than a third, but the detection rate is very low there.

I think the only advice to give to visitors is don’t be too worried, don’t carry lots of valuables and spread your money around your person. Try and be aware of the areas you’re walking around, London’s such a mishmash of neighbourhoods you can quickly pass from a safer, quieter one to somewhere a little more crime ridden.