‘Hornchurch Traders feel like no one cares about us. We are tired of losing police officers to London events, it is now impacting our businesses.’

Increase in shoplifting across Hornchurch and Upminster Town centre- ‘Many are women with long skirts, pushing buggies with no children in them that they use to fill up with stolen goods.’

A meeting was held on Friday 20 September at Hornchurch library with local traders, councillors and police officers. The meeting was organised by Julia Lopez, the member of parliament for Hornchurch and Upminster and also saw GLA Member for Havering, Keith Prince attend.

Mrs Lopez has been liaising with Inspector Connolly, the Safer Neighbourhood Inspector for the area and Mr prince to try and improve the ongoing issue of anti social behaviour and the rise of shoplifting across Hornchurch and Upminster.

St Andrew’s ward councillors Gerry O sullivan, Paul Middleton and Bryan Vincent were also at the meeting alongside Cabinet Member for Enforcement Councillor Barry Mugglestone.

Shop traders were angry at the lack of visible presence in the area that has led to an increase in shoplifting across Hornchurch and Upminster town centre.

“We are already seeing a decline in shops that local people want in the area and many shops closing in our High Street. Hornchurch is a nice place to shop and we need to keep it that way but we are struggling with shoplifting and no one seems to care about us here,” one local trader said.

“There are many people coming into Hornchurch committing theft, we see them every day. Many are women with long skirts who have pushchairs with them that they use to fill with stolen goods. I challenged one who was stealing in my shop and she struck me across the face. The thieves are becoming more vicious, spitting at us, threatening us and even goding us to call the police as they know they don’t come.

“We all know who they are and have flagged them up repeatedly but nothing gets done,” carried on another Hornchurch trader.

Traders are now calling for the use of facial recognition to be used across the area to help them stop the increase in shop lifting.

“We know that many are well known in other areas. Some have been banned from Harold Hill, Romford or even other boroughs and have now made their way to us in Hornchurch.

“With the use of facial recognition, we can catch these thieves and ban them from coming into our stores,” continued the local trader.

Major retailers have also highlighted how they have faced a significant increase in shoplifting across their stores.

Traders were angry at the distinct lack of visible police presence across Hornchurch town centre and how it has had a significant impact on their businesses.

Councillors and GLA Member Mr Prince urged for traders to report all incidents that happen daily in their stores. However, retailers highlighted how the reporting system makes it complicated for store holders to report thieves there and then, and that they are often faced with busy phone lines or a complicated online system when trying to report theft.

Inspector Connolly spoke openly about the staffing challenges he faced and how he had organised his teams to provide more support for the local community.

“We are tired of losing officers to London duties leaving us behind. This is now having an impact on our businesses and we are being forced to take action ourselves. Most traders are finding it difficult with the rise in shoplifting.

“We also have gangs of youths wearing balaclavas and face masks outside of our shops that intimidate customers.

“There is no deterrent, we report thieves and no one seems to care.”

South Havering Neighbourhoods Inspector Mr Connolly told the Havering Daily:

“I attended a meeting with retailers chaired by MP Julia Lopez to discuss concerns with regards to shoplifting within Hornchurch High Street and Upminster High Street. I share everyone’s concerns with regards to any criminality within the high street.

My team of officers are actively engaged in working with retailers and members of the community to target offenders and reassure the public. I want to highlight the importance of reporting offences to police and sharing information with your local teams.

Your Upminster team can be contacted for non-emergencies  Upminster.snt@met.police.uk and St Andrews can be contacted on StAndrews.snt@met.police.uk.

Please sure these email contacts for Non Reporting matters/information only contacts.  If a crime is being committed please call 999 or 101 or use the Metropolitan Police Online Reporting system which can be found on https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/ .

I would like to highlight some of the good work which is taking place within the community.  Upminster and St Andrews teams are now aligned to each other and will be working closely together to target individuals and organised crime networks within the High Street’s.  A working partnership between the local authority and retailers is underway to tackle on-going concerns.

I work closely with Havering Joint Task Force who have recently been engaged in activities to deal with motor vehicle crime offences throughout Hornchurch, Upminster and Rainham. This has had a significant impact and to date has seen seizures or lost or stolen motor vehicles recovered, victims of crimes personal property recovered to owners, illegal vehicles seized and offenders prosecuted  with over 12 persons arrested for linked offences.

I want to be clear that no crime will be tolerated at any level and I will continue to work closely with retailers, the local authority and with the support of our councillors and local MP Julia Lopez I welcome more opportunities for a joint partnership problem solving working group between police, retailers and the Local Authority to see a reduction in crime”.

Julia Lopez MP told the Havering Daily:

“We want our town centres in Hornchurch and Upminster to keep being brilliant places to shop and meet friends, as the heart of a thriving community. That is why I wanted to bring independent shopkeepers and major retailers together with police and politicians today at Hornchurch Library, to build a strong network that can push more effectively against anyone seeking to steal or cause nuisance. We discussed some of the lessons from the work around Farnham Road in Harold Hill, where the partnership from the Clear Hold Build project has worked very well. 

I am grateful for the time everyone put into the meeting and my team and I will be following up the action points that came out of it.”

Mrs Lopez and Mr Prince have both been very vocal in pushing for more officers across Havering and also to keep them in our borough without losing them weekly for London protests.

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