‘Clear Hold Build’-Havering Police roll out new Home Office initiative to reduce serious and organised crime in Harold Hill.

Harold Hill has been plagued by crime for numerous years. Residents living in the area often feel that they are forgotten about by the local council and police.

This week saw the launch of a new Home Office Initiative entitled ‘Clear Hold Build’ that sees the police work with multiple partners in the area such as Havering Council, as well as private and voluntary organisations to tackle the ongoing issues the area has faced.The event was launched on Thursday 6 December, by Havering Police at MyPlace.

Clear Hold Build, is a three-phase initiative developed by the Home Office that uses a problem solving and evidence-based approach to tackle serious and organised crime (SOC) threats. It is a partnership approach and is designed to sustainably reduce Serious and Organised Crime and the related crime and harm it drives in our communities. The CHB approach brings together the public, private, and voluntary sectors, and puts the community at the heart of the response. It ensures that a unified approach is delivered to make our communities safer places to live and work.
‘Clear’ means targeted activity and crime disruption, working with partners ‘Hold’ means stabilising the area to stop criminals moving in to fill the void.
‘Build’ means community-driven action to address the causes of criminality and prevent it from happening again
CHB also tackles vulnerabilities (drivers of crime) within communities and those being exploited.
CHB has been tested in seven sites across England and Wales since 2020 and has seen promising results. The initiative has led to reduced crime and violence, improved partnership working, less anti- social behaviour and more community confidence in all of the trial sites.
The event at MyPlace saw presentations from the Home Office regarding serious and organised crime (SOC) as well as an introduction to CHB and how it has been successfully adopted by other policing forces with great success. In the afternoon the attendees participated in various workshops and shared valuable knowledge of the area as well as a commitment to work together on the long term aim of building a better future for Harold Hill.

Inspector Charlie Routley (Havering Safer Neighbourhoods and Tactical lead for CHB in Havering) said “We are thrilled to be able to introduce this initiative in Harold Hil. Today’s event has been attended by
representatives from various partner agencies, including the community of Harold Hill, who will all play a key role in building on the successes already seen around the country in other CHB areas.
“Our initial focus will be on the Farnham Road and Dartfields area of Harold Hill. The ongoing issues in these areas are well documented. Farnham Road is the hub of Harold Hill. Regardless of where you live, you’ll have a reason to visit Farnham Road. The increases in offences related to Theft, Drugs, Violence and ASB are a real concern for the local community. By working together with the partners at the event today, as well as the community itself, we can have a real positive impact together
“The majority of offences in this area are being committed by a minority of offenders. By focusing our efforts on dealing with these subjects, not solely via enforcement methods, but also working with partner agencies to ensure they get the help and support they need, then we should see a long term sustainable approach to deter future offending
“Some may only see it as “only Shoplifting”, but these offences are often committed in order to fund an addiction. Which in turn funds then drugs supply market ni the area and, by default, the organised crime
groups operating in and around Harold Hill.
“Over the coming weeks and months the community will see an increase in partnership activity and police visibility in Harold Hill under CHB as we look to work with the community for the benefit of the community
Superintendent Simon Hutchison (Havering Safer Neighbourhoods and Lead Responsible Officer for CHB in Havering said “The Launch event gave us a really good opportunity to highlight the benefits of
Clear Hold Build and create an environment where ideas were identified and shared. Clear, Hold, Build aims to harness some of great work already taking place in the area and improve upon this in a collaborative way. Only through a joint focus will we be able to make the area a better place to live,
work and shop. My team are committed to making this a success but can only do so with our partners and the community. I am very much looking forward to working closely with the Local Authority, business owners, community organisations and the community to truly have an impact on the crime that blights many residents lives on a daily basis”
Chris McAvoy (Havering Community Safety Partnership lead) said “We are looking to support the Police and the local community in any way we can. The problems in this area have been long documented and
“Clear-Hold-Build presents us with an opportunity to put in place some additional focus to try and remove some of the reoccurring offending and hopefully reduce crime and ASB and improve the quality of life of those living locally”
Simon Ford (Chairperson of the Farnham Road Shopkeepers Association) said “We are looking forward to seeing results from Clear Hold Build, ti will be great for shop workers &the local community to enjoy the benefits of Clear Hold Build and not to be blighted by shop lifters, there are some great ideas in the pipeline that will benefit the area, we wil work really hard to make sure this will be a success”

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