The Met Police are concerned about the number of residents “taking things into their own hands” and patrolling the street at night in response to a spate of violent burglaries in the borough.

Officers are currently receiving numerous calls from concerned residents, about cars being driven very slowly down streets in Redbridge.

After investigating, police found the vehicles were being driven by residents on the lookout for suspicious behaviour and trying to protect their roads

The Met said chasing law-abiding residents is wasting valuable police time when their resources are already very limited.

Clayhall SNT dedicated ward officer, PC Kate King, is urging residents who want to guard their community to join a police backed scheme, where training is given to patrol roads.

The Met have set up the Street Watch Scheme, for those that wish to patrol and it is for residents, run by residents. Street watch also provides trained residents with insurance in case something happens to them while on the beat.

A police spokeswoman said: “After passing a police verification check, you will be contacted and given training plus identifiable Hi-Vis tabards and a log on/ username to the website.

“You will need to log onto the website before going out to activate the insurance.

“This is so Street Watch will know you are patrolling the streets officially and then you log off once you are back home.”

The police are also appealing to the public to share CCTV and photos of attempted burglary and burglary with officers.

Many residents are joining area-wide and street-wide WhatsApp groups to keep each other informed of security issues and are posting their footage there instead.

PC Kate King is urging any residents with Clayhall information, video or photo media to email it to Clayhall.snt@met.pnn.police.uk along with the location, date, time and the incident it refers to.

Anyone interested in being part of Street Watch should visit, street-watch.org or send their title, full name, address, contact number and date of birth to Clayhall.snt@met.pnn.police.uk.