Nearly 70 per cent of Havering’s police officers do not live in the borough, a report has revealed.

Data from the Green assembly member Sian Berry also shows nearly half of Met Police officers - 49pc - live outside London altogether.

According to the paper published on Wednesday, 69pc of Havering officers live outside of the M25 - the second highest percentage of all London borough after Barnet, which has 70pc.

The report also states only 32 of Havering’s 397 police officers live in Havering.

Borough commander Jason Gwillim explained many officers working in Havering were recruited from Essex.

“The organisation is working hard to ensure that we reflect the people that we serve. Chief superintendent Victor Olisa has recently been appointed as the MPS’ diversity lead. We are looking forward to working closely with him to continue our vital work in this area,” he said.

Ms Berry said more needed to be done to ensure officers reflected the communities they served.

“I think that the service to Londoners provided by the Metropolitan Police Service – and our community’s confidence in that service – would be improved if more borough police officers were drawn from and lived within the areas they serve,” she added.

She also urged Met commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and the new deputy mayor for policing and crime Sophie Linden “should make more effective plans to recruit from within London” and “do more to support and incentivise officers to stay in London when their family circumstances and housing needs change”.

“We have to recruit and retain more officers who don’t just look like the people they serve but who come from and live in our communities.”

Over the last few years, the Met Police put in place initiatives to recruit more officers, who live in the capital.

This included the introduction of a residency criteria, which meant new recruits had to have lived in London for at least three of the last six years.