The London police hastily published the first figures on crime statistics after the turn of the year because they can report successes: the number of homicides fell significantly in the British capital in 2025. There were 97 reported cases of murder and manslaughter, the lowest number in more than a decade. London Police Commissioner Mark Rowley was particularly happy about the drastic drop in the number of teenagers killed. Four years ago, 41 young people died in London, primarily through the use of knives and other stabbing weapons; in 2025, this number fell to eight cases.
In addition to the head of Scotland Yard, London Mayor Sadiq Khan was also happy to announce the new figures. Khan has been vilified several times in recent months by US President Donald Trump, who has called him a “terrible, terrible mayor” and has not only claimed that Khan wants to introduce the Muslim Sharia legal system in London, but also claimed that “crime in London is through the roof”. Khan and Rowley now want to prove the opposite with the latest statistics.
1.1 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants
Rowley stated that comparing homicides is a good measure of crime because the crime follows the same criteria everywhere. While 1.1 such acts per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded in London in 2025, there were 1.6 acts in Paris and Milan and 2.9 acts in Brussels; in Berlin the rate was even higher.
However, the official crime statistics show a total of 53 homicides for Berlin in 2024, which, with a population of just under 3.8 million, would result in a homicide rate of 1.4 per 100,000. The police chief also cited the amount of capital crimes in the United States and said this comparison was even more drastic: the rate was 2.8 in New York, 5.6 in Los Angeles and 11.7 cases per 100,000 residents in Chicago.
Significantly more firearms confiscated
The falling number of capital crimes corresponds to an increasing number of confiscated weapons. In the past year, the statistics show 676 confiscated firearms and 2,894 confiscated knives; an increase of almost 75 percent compared to the previous year. Scotland Yard also collects figures on the effectiveness of these confiscations: the number of cases of illegal use of firearms has fallen by a third to 120; The number of admissions to emergency rooms in London hospitals for acute stab wounds has fallen by almost 30 percent.
The conclusion of the mayor and his police chief is that London is “a safe place” to live, work and visit. Rowley announced that Scotland Yard is relying on the increased use of new technical means to further strengthen the sense of security in the city. This includes the use of reconnaissance drones and automatic facial recognition in random searches for suspects.
So far, the London police have set up the detection cameras four times a week in busy areas of the city center or other frequented places, such as in front of sports arenas, and in the future they want to carry out ten missions per week. Rowley asserted that, according to surveys, 85 percent of Londoners approved of this search method. On average, within two hours the police came across ten to 15 wanted people for whom there were either arrest warrants or who were violating court conditions. The use of drones, in turn, is intended to clear up crime scenes or pursue suspects; Rowley said drones can usually reach a crime scene within 90 seconds, almost always faster than a patrol car; they would also be equipped with glowing blue lights.
