Crime up more than 10pc in Havering, Met Police data shows

The number of yearly reported crimes in Havering has gone up by more than 10 per cent, data has revealed.

There were 21,648 crime reports in the borough during 2022-23, a rise of 11pc compared to the year before.

The data published by Metropolitan Police revealed crime trends for Havering over the last six financial years.

Crimes relating to motor vehicles have spiked during that time – thefts from vehicles have gone up by more than 600 cases while interfering with motor vehicle crimes – that stood at 347 in 2017-18 – increased to 483 in 2022-23. 

The number of drug trafficking reports have more than doubled in Havering in the last six years (from 87 in 2017-18 to 223 in 2022-23).

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But instances of domestic burglaries have more than halved over the last six years, from 1,880 in 2017-18 to 790 in 2022-23.

Robbery of personal property reports have fallen from 641 to 366 in those years and the number of bicycle thefts have reduced from 179 in 2017-18 to 105 in 2022-23.

The borough retained its position of 26th out of all 32 boroughs when it came to overall crimes in 2022-23 despite the rise.

Supt Simon Hutchison, of neighbourhood policing for Havering borough, told the Recorder that police have a “number of dedicated operations” managing complex county lines and are “seeing positive results” across London and beyond.

This, he said, has increased intelligence flows not just in London but across the UK.

The increase in motor vehicle interference cases is “consistent with figures across London”, he added.

He said: “My teams are working hard with council colleagues and communities across the borough to secure vehicles and make it harder to take property from within.

“I have a proactive team working cross border with Essex colleagues targeting prolific offenders.”

With regards to burglaries that have gone down, Supt Hutchison claimed to “not be complacent”.

His team, he added, “continues to develop intelligence” and “reviews offences” to identify offending patterns, arrest offenders and target repeat locations.

He said: “I think it is important to say that the public can be critical partners in our fight against all criminal acts.

“If you have information or intelligence please share it with my teams, even the smallest piece of intelligence may be the final piece of the jigsaw to help us bring offenders to justice.”