Wapping is about as safe as the rest of its borough, with slightly more crime. The rate runs about a tenth above the Tower Hamlets average. Violence makes up a smaller share than the national pattern. Theft from people's pockets and bags makes up more. For safety, the place is neither notably good nor notably bad.
Police.uk records about 172 crimes per 1,000 residents in Wapping for the year from June 2025 to May 2026, roughly 10% above the Tower Hamlets average. That is 4,317 recorded crimes over the year, a published count across a small, crowded patch of riverside.
The borough's own rate over the same year was about 156 crimes per 1,000 residents, against Wapping's 172. The two figures sit fairly close together, and a few streets in a busy month could account for the difference.
Wapping packs in about 21,900 people per square kilometre on average, so a lot of people share every stretch of pavement. About 4% of working-age residents are unemployed, and about 11% of households are overcrowded. That makes Wapping crowded and mostly employed, and the crime rate comes from that kind of place.
The type of crime matters as much as the total. Anti-social behaviour makes up about 22% of Wapping's recorded crime, against about 16% nationally. Violence and sexual offences make up about 22%, well under the 35% share that category takes across England and Wales, and the category includes common assault without injury. Other theft is about 11% against 7% nationally, burglary about 6% against 4%, and shoplifting about 7%, close to the national 8%. Theft from the person is the standout at about 8%, against about 2% nationally. Wapping's thieves prefer taking things to fighting over them. Look up the exact street on the police.uk crime map, because a riverside walkway and a back street can have very different months.
What happens after a report is decided across all of London, and Wapping has no figure of its own for it. The Metropolitan Police Service charges a suspect in about 10% of cases, against about 12% nationally, which ranks it 33rd of 42 forces over the year to May 2026. About 53% of its cases close with no suspect identified. That figure is about the chances of getting your phone back, which is a different question from the chances of losing it.
Wapping is a middling place for safety, about as safe as the rest of Tower Hamlets with a bit more crime. A busy riverside is where most of its trouble comes from, and assaults are less of a feature than pickpocketing and anti-social behaviour.