Update - Stratford Town Centre Team's proactive patrols, arrests and tackling Violence Against Women and Girls

Stratford Town Centre Team have been proactively patrolling across E15 today (23 July) and arrested 3 people in an almost 3 hour period, including one who was wanted by police for stalking and others wanted by the courts.

We also went out and about in some of the parks and green spaces in Stratford and E15 more widely to engage with females about their views on women’s safety in public parks and our work tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) – from this we received some useful intelligence which will help us target our patrols more efficiently to combat street harassment in one of the parks. This intelligence also identified to us an instance of a crime that hadn’t yet been reported to police – one under the newly introduced offence under Section 4B of the Public Order Act, which criminalises intentional harassment, alarm, or distress directed at a person because of their sex or presumed sex. This will now be investigated and our patrols in the area increased.

Read more about the Met’s Action Plan on Violence Against Women and Girls: https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/about-us/about-the-met/vawg-action-plan-summary/stronger-neighbourhoods/