Julia Lopez MP organised a police walkabout of Upminster town centre with the local ward policing panel as she begins the next phase of her work to help the constituency's shopkeepers fight back against thieves.

The Hornchurch & Upminster MP was joined by Havering's policing lead, Superintendent Simon Hutchison, ward sergeant. Amar Sehmby, GLA member, Cllr Keith Prince AM, and local community activists, Linda and Alan, who chair the Upminster Ward Panel. The group met a number of shopkeepers and retail staff who shared their experiences of theft and aggressive shoplifters, and discussed ways in which intelligence can better be shared.

Mrs Lopez has been raising the profile of retail crime with Superintendent Hutchison and his team in a bid to keep local town centres safe and enjoyable places for local people to shop and socialise. Earlier in the year, she and Mr Prince led a walkabout of Hornchurch town centre and arranged a community meeting with the ward policing team and Hornchurch shopkeepers. A number of arrests of prolific shoplifters have since been made.

The focus on retail crime builds on successful work in Harold Hill between police and shopkeepers via the Clear, Hold, Build pilot on Farnham Road to clamp down on retail crime. The pilot has proved one of the Met's most successful in London, leading to a 30% reduction in crime in the Hilldene area and the arrest of persistent offenders who were causing misery to the community. Mrs Lopez supported that work by gathering retailers, community and police together at a meeting in Harold Hill Library.

Mrs Lopez, the Police and businesses will be hoping for similar levels of success again, ensuring that more crimes are reported and information is better shared between those most affected.

Commenting, Mrs Lopez said:

“I am very grateful to Linda van den Hende, Chair of the Upminster Ward Panel, for helping to arrange meetings with the people on the shopfloor, who bear the brunt of shoplifters' crimes. I have been meeting with shopkeepers through the year and the immense toll that shoplifting has upon them, both financially and to their quality of life, has been abundantly clear. We cannot accept  this type of offending  as low level. We want local town centres to continue to be places that people enjoy going to for shopping and socialising.

“Where we’ve supported shopkeepers this year, first in Harold Hill at the start of the year and then in Hornchurch, we’ve seen a drop in retail crime on those respective high streets. I’m hoping that the police, in partnership with retailers, can replicate this success in Upminster now.”