Neighbourhood policing and Burglary message

Good afternoon,

Over the holiday period, while many services reduce or close, our local neighbourhood teams continue to work and remain focused and committed to addressing local priorities and crime. There will be a significantly increased police presence across the borough on New Year’s Eve and overnight into New Year’s Day to manage anticipated demand.

More broadly, I would like to provide a couple of general updates, with a particular focus on burglary:

From 1 December, as part of the Met’s corporate shift‑pattern review, our neighbourhood teams have been working later shifts more frequently. This enables us to be more responsive and to align our duty times with peak periods for crime and antisocial behaviour. We will remain flexible and continue to adapt our shifts to respond to specific issues as they arise.

While we have seen reductions across most neighbourhood crime types over the past year, there has been a recent, small increase in burglary. We have invested considerable effort in targeting known prolific offenders and secured additional funding to support operational activity, resulting in a number of positive outcomes. For example, on 20 December, colleagues in CID charged one male with ten residential burglaries; he is currently remanded in custody pending further court appearances. I hope to be able to provide further updates on this in due course.

We are also currently investigating a linked series of distraction burglaries. While most of these offences have occurred in neighbouring Hackney, one incident has taken place in Tower Hamlets. Distraction burglaries involve offenders deceiving their way into someone’s home — for example, by pretending to be from a utility company — before stealing property while the victim is distracted. Unfortunately, elderly residents are often targeted due to their vulnerability.

Although I appreciate that the reach of this message may be limited, particularly among those most at risk, I have included a link to crime‑prevention advice. I would be grateful if you could share this with relatives, neighbours, or friends, and remain vigilant to any suspicious activity.

Keep burglars out of your property | Metropolitan Police

Thank you, and I look forward to working with our local communities in 2026. I wish everyone a very Happy New Year.

Chief Inspector Chris Brown
Neighbourhood Policing – Tower Hamlets