Haha. If I was in a gang, I'd agree. I'm not, so I disagree. Again, I'm not sure how you can make such assertions when you don't even live here.

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

Yep. Never said Croydon didn't have issues with crime, and to your point specifically with knife crime, just like a lot of other London Boroughs. From the way people talk, you'd expect to look at a map of knife crime across london and 90% of it to be in Croydon. It's just not true. It's a perception issue.

The example you give is also not exclusive to Croydon. What I reject is the assertion that it is the worst out of the lot. Firstly, it's not true. Secondly people forget it's one of the largest, if not the largest by population, so without context crime figures provide nice hyperbole to reinforce the usual lines when required.

I also take issue with it not feeling 'safe' – what consitutes 'safe' to you? I feel safe enough in Croydon on a daily basis. And I live 10 minutes walk from East Croydon station and not in an affluent area such as Sanderstead etc. There is a new 1000 place academy being built near us, the station will be redeveloped over the next 10-15 years, tired and run down areas are being regenerated.

My personal opinion is that broken windows theory applies here, as it does in most cities. But it's nowhere near as apocalyptic as others make out, nor is it any worse than a lot of other boroughs in London. And I can say this with conviction.

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

Zing

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

Terror related according to reports.
Another religious nut job doing it for Allah.

That does also validate my point around perception vs. reality. No-one would bat an eyelid if I said I was moving to Greenwich, Westminster or Southwark. Can't say it would be the same if I said I was moving to Croydon.

So back to statistics tennis. I'm not a fan of this but here goes

Reported crime as a whole has increased by over 20% across London Boroughs over the last five years, from a crime count of 760,00 in February 2014/15 to a total of 913,000 in February 2018/19.

The area with the highest rise in crime is Westminster, with an increase of 35% in the last five years, followed by Haringey (32%), Kingston upon Thames (28%) and Bexley (28%). The lowest increases in crime came from Lambeth (7%), Croydon (10%) and Islington (10%).

Current knife crime statistics place the following above Croydon:

Southwark
haringey
Newham
Brent
Lambeth
Tower hamlets
Westminster
Islington

Using stats like this dehumanises the issue, even trivialises it, but my general point is, Croydon is not as bad as people who no longer live in the borough like to make out. It's the party line, and it's not reality.

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

[Link]

Croydon not looking too good here.