Middling, and a little rougher than the rest of the borough. Crime runs slightly above the Hounslow average. Violence makes up a smaller share of it than it does nationally. Nuisance and car crime make up bigger shares. It's a crowded riverside town, and its crime figures are about what you'd expect from one.
Police.uk recorded 4,434 crimes in Brentford between June 2025 and May 2026, a published rate of about 125 per 1,000 residents. That is about 7% above the average for the London Borough of Hounslow. The town keeps a monument outside the County Court to two of its battles, and the modern figures are a good deal less dramatic.
Hounslow's own rate over the same year was about 117 crimes per 1,000 residents, against Brentford's 125. The gap is there, and it is small.
Brentford is crowded, with about 13,450 people per square kilometre on average. Unemployment is about 5% and about 11% of households are overcrowded. Those figures describe the kind of neighbourhood it is. They don't explain the crime rate, and nothing here shows that any of them causes it.
Violence and sexual offences are the largest category, at about 25% of recorded crime in Brentford against about 35% across England and Wales. That category is broad and includes common assault where nobody was hurt, and here it makes up a smaller share than the national one. Anti-social behaviour runs the other way, at about 21% against 16% nationally. Vehicle crime is about 10% of the local total against 5% nationally. Other theft (about 8% against 7%), shoplifting (about 7% against 8%) and criminal damage and arson (about 6% against 7%) are all close to the national pattern. Brentford's crime leans more towards nuisance and car crime than violence.
The Metropolitan Police Service charged a suspect in about 10% of cases in the year to May 2026, against about 12% nationally. That puts it 33rd of 42 forces. About 53% of its cases were closed with no suspect identified. These are figures for the whole force across London, and they show what happens after a crime is reported, not how much crime there is. In Brentford, as across London, reporting a theft usually ends with a crime reference number and no charge.
Brentford's safety record is about average for a dense London riverside town. It is slightly above the borough average, with more anti-social behaviour and car crime than the national mix and a smaller share of violence.