The latest available crime figures for Bromley released by the Metropolitan police have revealed the areas of the borough with the most crimes reported, with some surprising statistics.

Across the borough there were a total of 2,357 crimes reported in May 2017 (the most recent statistics available), of which 547 were violent or sexual offences.

The figures break down the types of crime reported, and a crime map released for each ward shows where the reported crimes have taken place.

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Crime map for Bromley Town (above)

The ward with the highest reported number of crimes was Bromley Town with 290 – considerably higher than Penge and Cator Park which was next in the list with 192 reported in total. Next in the list were Cray Valley East and West, with 170 and 156 total crimes reported respectively.

Frances Forrest, Your Bromley Business Improvement District Manager said: “Bromley Town Centre is a very safe and vibrant place to visit when compared with other central and outer London shopping destinations.”

She said there were several measures in place to reduce crime in the area, including a dedicated website where businesses can report incidents and share images and monthly meetings with police to discuss trends and ideas.

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The area with the lowest number of reported crimes was Shortlands, with just 28 crimes reported. However, nine of these were violent or sexual offences, meaning nearly a third of crimes reported were in this category. At 32 per cent of all crimes reported, this is the second highest percentage of violent or sexual offences in the borough.

Shortlands Councillor Mary Cooke said: "I'm delighted to note that Shortlands Ward has not only the lowest level of crime across the borough but also the lowest number of violent and sexual offences of any ward. This is undoubtedly due to the excellent work of the Ward dedicated police and the safer neighbourhood panel.”

Similarly, Darwin was second bottom of the list for the total number of crimes reported, but had the highest percentage of violent or sexual offences, at 34 per cent.

Although Orpington had the 7th highest number of reported crimes overall, only 14 per cent of these were violent or sexual offences, the lowest percentage in the borough.

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Overall, in the year ending March 2017, there were 65.39 crimes per 1,000 residents in Bromley. This figure is much lower than the Met force average crime rate of 88.78, and sits between Merton (64.32) and Barnet (68.28).