Are Police Winning the Battle Against Crime in Chiswick?
Latest data shows significant fall in offences over the last year
Police dealing with an incident in Chiswick. Picture: Chiswick Police
March 23, 2025
The most recent official statistics for crime in the Chiswick area show a significant fall in offences across the area with a double digit decline overall for the past year.
In the twelve months to the end of this February were 4709 offences recorded across all W4 postcode wards (including Southfield in Ealing borough) which is 16.9% fall. The large fall in the crime rate in Chiswick is not part of a broader trend as there has been a 0.5% increase over the year in the Metropolitan Police area.
The police locally appear to have had particular success in tackling robberies with only 150 reported, a fall of 37.7%. This is a continuation of the trend following the high-profile robbery of Aled Jones which took place in July 2023.
Burglary is also down 28.8% with 332 offences reported over the year and vehicle crime has dropped by 22% although so far this calendar year this type of offence appears to be on the rise. Violence against the person in Chiswick is down by 13.3%
Theft has decreased by 13.8% but this masks a 22.7% rise in shoplifting offences with 453 reports. However, in recent months this type of offence has tailed off significantly and, once a surge in reports from last summer works its way out of the figures, it is likely that this category will also show a sharp drop.
This January more than ten officers were involved in a raid on a house near the High Road in which over £6,000 worth of suspected stolen goods were found and a woman arrested. Later that month a woman with previous convictions for shoplifting was arrested for failing to appear at court and imprisoned.
The social media accounts of the police in Chiswick report that, after recent declines, shoplifting might be on the rise again but in the last few days they recovered £230 worth of stolen champagne near the High Road which they were able to return to Marks and Spencer.
Police recovered £230 worth of champagne for M&S. Picture: Chiswick Police
The police have recognised that vehicle crime is on the rise and is currently working on Operation Automotive to target theft of and from vehicles. Warnings on social media are being issued regularly not to leave items in cars. Earlier this month a man was spotted in the Chiswick area looking into cars with a torch and was tackled to the floor by PC Allo and arrested.
Chiswick Gunnersbury, the ward which includes most of the retail area of Chiswick, saw a continued decline in the number of reported cases of shoplifting with just 14 in February, the lowest level since October 2023. In the ward overall there was a 17.9% fall in offences with vehicle crime off by 23.5% although it is in this area that this sort of crime seems to have risen recently. Violence against the person is down by 11.6%
In Chiswick Homefields all crime is down by 17.5% with vehicle theft down 20.6% but there was a sharp spike in this category this February with 41 offences. Shoplifting appears to have returned to more normal levels with only three reports in last month, but this type of crime still doubled in the ward over the last year due to a large rise over the summer.
Chiswick Riverside, which even by W4 standards, is a low crime area also saw a fall of 14.7% over the last year.
Across the borough border in Southfields, crime there too also seems to be on the decline with a 15.5% decrease. There the police seem to have had particular success in tackling burglary which is down by 36.2% and vehicle crime which is down by 21.0% but, as in other wards, this type of offence is on the rise after a lull over the summer of last year.
One local shop owner who asked not to be named said in response being shown the figures, “The biggest risk to trade on the High Road was a growth of a perception that the area is crime-ridden, which even last year when there was much more theft than usual, is not the case. The over-the-top reporting, particularly in the national press, could potentially have lost businesses more that was taken by thieves. However, it does seem to have cause a rebalancing of police enforcement resource towards the area.
“There can be no doubt that over the last six months or so the police have been far more proactive. A surge in crime can be the result of the actions of a relatively small number of individuals and officers have done a good job in targeting these people and taking some of the off the scene. The business community deserves credit too though. The ‘Shoplifters Not Welcome’ signs were not a token gesture but a signal of intent and reflected a broader determination to stand up against thieves.”
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