Chadwell Heath is less safe than the borough around it. Crime runs at about 128 for every 1,000 residents. That puts it well above the Redbridge average. Most of the mix looks like anywhere else, with vehicle crime the one category that stands out. It is a busy outer-London neighbourhood with numbers to match.
The Metropolitan Police recorded 5,939 crimes in Chadwell Heath in the year from June 2025 to May 2026, a published rate of about 128 per 1,000 residents. That is roughly 29% above the average for Redbridge as a whole. The rate is calculated on a statistical population base, so it should be read as published.
Across Redbridge the rate over the same year was just under 100 per 1,000 residents. The gap between that and Chadwell Heath's 128 is the whole safety question here, and the borough average looks a lot friendlier from the other side of it.
The streets are packed in, at an average of about 9,900 people per square kilometre across the area's statistical zones. In the 2021 Census about 4% of residents were unemployed and about 15% of households were overcrowded. That describes a dense, crowded, mostly working place. More people on the same streets means more of everything, crime included, and none of that makes any one road dangerous.
Violence and sexual offences make up about 38% of recorded crime here, against 35% across England and Wales. That category tops the list almost everywhere because it includes common assault where nobody was hurt, so a local share this close to the national one is unremarkable. Anti-social behaviour is about 17% against 16% nationally, and shoplifting about 9% against 8%, both near enough level. Vehicle crime is the one that breaks away, at about 7% of the total against 5% nationally, so cars are the thing to protect here. Other theft (about 5% against 7%) and criminal damage and arson (about 5% against 7%) both come in below the national share.
Charging decisions belong to the force, not the neighbourhood. The Metropolitan Police charges a suspect in about 10% of cases across London, against about 12% nationally, which ranks it 33rd of 42 forces. In about 53% of cases the force closes the file with nobody identified. That answers whether anyone gets caught, which is a different question from how likely a crime is in the first place. One local bus route still starts from a stop called Police Station, and the building the stop was named after is now described as the former police station.
Safety is a real weakness for Chadwell Heath. Crime runs clearly above the borough, and a car parked on the street here is more exposed than one almost anywhere else.