Romford is not a safe area by the usual measures, and its crime rate is the main reason. Crime runs more than half as high again as the borough average. Shoplifting and drug offences make up more of the total than they do nationally. Violence and sexual offences, a broad legal grouping, make up less. The offences that stand out are the ones you'd expect from a busy shopping centre and a late night out.
The Metropolitan Police recorded 6,821 crimes across the area in the year from June 2025 to May 2026, a published rate of about 147 per 1,000 residents. That is roughly 56% above the Havering average. Because the rate covers a full twelve months, no single bad weekend can account for it.
Across Havering as a whole, the published rate for the same year was about 94 crimes per 1,000 residents, against Romford's 147. Hornchurch, Upminster and the rest of the borough's suburbs are all in that 94. Romford is the town centre the whole borough comes into, and its figure reflects that.
Romford is packed tightly, at about 6,500 people per square kilometre on average. Unemployment is about 3% and about 8% of households are overcrowded. That's a dense town where most people are in work, and it doesn't explain the gap on its own. Linking any of these figures directly to the crime rate would be guesswork.
The largest category is violence and sexual offences, at about 28% of the total against about 35% across England and Wales. That is a broad legal grouping that includes common assault without injury, and here it makes up a smaller share than it does nationally. Anti-social behaviour is about 19% against 16% nationally, shoplifting about 11% against 8%, and drugs about 7% against about 4%. Public order offences are about 7%, the same as the national share, and vehicle crime is about 6% against 5%. Romford set up improvement commissioners in 1819 to light and keep watch over its market place, and the town centre still keeps the watch busy. The best check costs nothing. Walk the street you're considering on a Friday night and again on a weekday morning, because a home a few minutes from the ring road can feel very different from one in the middle of it.
As for what happens after a report, the Metropolitan Police as a whole charges a suspect in about 10% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which puts it 33rd of 42 forces over the year to May 2026. About 53% of its cases are closed with no suspect identified. Those are figures for the whole Metropolitan Police area, not for Romford's streets. They tell you how often crimes end in a charge, which is a different question from how much crime there is.
On safety, Romford comes out poorly, with crime running well above the rest of the borough. Buyers who need low crime figures will find them elsewhere in Havering, and anyone who buys here should look at how close the house is to the town centre.