In the wake of recent violent offences in Havering, Hornchurch & Upminster MP, Julia Lopez, has written to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley QPM, to reinforce her earlier calls for additional police officers and resources in Havering alongside the retention of Hornchurch Police Station.

While the Mayor of London is responsible for policing in London, Julia Lopez MP has once again written to the Commissioner to highlight her concern that the Met's approach to policing in outer-London is not keeping pace with the changes in crime profile in Havering. While the Government has introduced legislation to support officers to take robust action against knife crime, and is providing an additional 4.5K officers to the Metropolitan Police, Julia does not consider that local command unit is given an appropriate share of Met resources.

The Hornchurch & Upminster MP has consistently argued for additional officers and the retention of Hornchurch Police Station under the Met's ownership. On 5 December 2022, Julia wrote to the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley QPM, to make these arguments as he settled into his position. A copy of this correspondence can be viewed here. Regrettably, despite writing again in January and after several follow-up requests, a response to these enquiries remains outstanding while Havering has seen several knife offences in recent weeks.

Those recent events, and the impact that they have upon communities, have brought those concerns on the adequacy of police resourcing in Havering into sharper focus. Last week, following incidents in Hornchurch Town Centre and Ardleigh Green, Julia wrote to the local Police Commander to request additional patrols in Hornchurch. Julia also sought advice on discussions within the Met to support further Town Teams in locations like Hornchurch, where there is a significant local night time economy, that did not benefit from the Mayor's establishment of 19 additional Town Teams in 2021.

Following a further violent knife attack in Romford on Monday, Julia has once again written to the Met Commissioner, for a third time, to reinforce the damage that violent incidents like those we have seen in recent weeks can have upon communities and to call for the resources the borough needs to tackle violent offending. You may find a copy of Julia's letter below.