On Tuesday evening, Julia Lopez MP attended a meeting with the Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, at New Scotland Yard to raise policing and crime concerns on on behalf of residents across the Hornchurch & Upminster constituency.
Getting Havering’s Fair Share of Police Resources
Mrs Lopez pushed the Commissioner on the fair police resourcing of outer-London boroughs such as Havering.
While Havering has had comparatively low levels of crime to some areas of inner London, certain types of offence are on the rise in the Borough. Mrs Lopez highlighted to the Commissioner the importance of ensuring that Havering Police had the officers to respond to the changing nature of crime in the Borough.
The Future of Hornchurch Police Station
Mrs Lopez also pushed Sir Mark on the Mayor’s desire to sell-off of Hornchurch Police Station. The Met’s estate strategy – which was to decide the site’s future - was meant to be released in the early summer of 2024 but there is still no sign.
Julia has campaigned to save the station and retain a strong police presence in the community for a number of years, exploring various options to ensure the police remain on site. Sir Mark says a decision is expected within the next six months.
Shoplifting
A key issue in the Hornchurch & Upminster constituency in recent years has been the blight of shoplifting and retail crime on high streets in the community.
Mrs Lopez has worked closely with the police and retailers to raise the profile of retail crime and shoplifting over the course of the last year by hosting police walkabouts, meeting with retailers, bringing the Deputy Mayor of London to the borough and working with other organisations such as the British transport Police.
In Harold Hill the Clear, Hold, Build programme has seen a fall in the number of offences committed by 35%. Similarly, a string of arrests targeting prolific offenders in Hornchurch has started to have an impact locally.
However, Mrs Lopez pressed the Met to continue making progress on the prominent issue, calling for the Met to improve their process for reporting of shoplifting. She also encouraged the Met to work more closely with retailers on data sharing agreements, ensuring that CCTV could be more easily shared with the police to aid investigations and reporting of crime.
District Line Enabled Crime
Reports from the local police, public and retailers suggest that a sizeable portion of offending in the town centres of Hornchurch and Upminster is facilitated by the District Line.
Currently Mrs Lopez is pushing for more support from the British Transport Police and TfL to make it harder for criminals to use the District Line. The measures Julia is requesting to help tackle the issue are: extra patrols from the BTP, facial recognition technology at stations, keeping barriers closed and extra fare enforcement on the line from TfL.
Although not formally the responsibility of the Met, Julia highlighted the pressures that these offences placed on the local teams on the ground in Havering, requesting help to engage BTP and TfL.
Commenting after the meeting, Mrs Lopez said:
“Tuesday’s meeting with the Met Commissioner allowed me to raise pressing issues which affecting residents in the constituency, particularly shoplifting, police officer numbers and the future of Hornchurch Station.
“It’s so important to take every opportunity we can to put these issues on the Met’s radar at the highest level. Crime is a blight on any community, and we need to keep up the pressure to ensure Havering remains a safe place to work, live and raise a family.”
