Becontree is about as safe as the rest of its borough. Its crime rate is almost identical to the borough's. The mix of crimes looks a lot like the national one. The exception is vehicle crime, which runs well above the national share. Overall it is an ordinary outer-London estate whose cars get targeted more than average.
In the year to May 2026, police recorded 6,130 crimes in Becontree. The published rate works out at about 114 crimes per 1,000 residents, which puts the estate level with Barking and Dagenham as a whole. Becontree is not a problem area dragging the borough's figure up.
For the whole of Barking and Dagenham over the same twelve months, the published rate is about 112 per 1,000. That leaves the two figures about two crimes per thousand residents apart, which is close to meaningless. For most of the borough, moving around within it makes little difference to the crime figures.
The neighbourhood is densely built. The average population density across Becontree's neighbourhoods is about 10,400 people per square kilometre, which is a lot of people for streets that were laid out as a garden-style cottage estate. Unemployment stands at about 5%, and about one in six households is overcrowded. Those figures describe the place. They do not explain its crime rate.
The breakdown by type follows the national pattern closely. Violence and sexual offences make up about 35% of recorded crime here, the same as about 35% across England and Wales. That is the largest category almost everywhere, and it covers common assault where nobody was hurt. Anti-social behaviour is about 18% here against 16% nationally, other theft about 6% against 7%, public order about 6% against 7%, and criminal damage and arson about 6% against 7%. Vehicle crime is the outlier at about 10%, against about 5% nationally. Becontree was laid out in the 1920s, before anyone planned for every household to own a car, so most cars are parked on the street. If you are moving here with a car, check the street-level map on police.uk for your road, and look at where you would actually park.
The Metropolitan Police Service charges a suspect in about 10% of cases, against about 12% nationally. That puts it 33rd of 42 forces in England and Wales. About 53% of its cases are closed without a suspect being identified. All of those figures cover the whole Metropolitan Police area across the twelve months to May 2026, and they say nothing about Becontree in particular. A crime here is less likely than average to lead to a charge, and that holds wherever you live in London.
Becontree's safety is middling: ordinary for its borough, close to the national pattern, and worse than average only for vehicle crime.