CRIME in the borough has risen since last year despite an overall drop across London, police say.

New figures released by the Metropolitan Police Service show that crime has risen by nearly five per cent in the borough since last year – which is 1,189 more reported crimes.

There has been an increase in violent crimes, rape, domestic crime and home burglaries.

But it records a drop in the number of killings, from seven to five, and the number of non-residential burglaries.

London overall is at its lowest crime level in ten years, according to the figures, and with the lowest murder rate in at least ten years.

The overall number of crimes reported in Waltham Forest between September 2007 and 2008 were 25,771, rising to 26,962 from September 2008 to 2009.

This compares with neighbouring borough Redbridge, which saw a slight increase of 1.9 per cent overall to 24,181 crimes, and Newham which saw a drop in crime by 5.1 per cent to 33,228 crimes.

The borough's neighbourhood teams said one of its key achievements for the year was holding a Zero Tolerance day to target anti-social behaviour and drivers committing traffic offences in Leytonstone.

The council is currently campaigning for extra police officers to be brought into the borough

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