THIRTY-EIGHT extra police officers are destined for the district.

At a public meeting organised by Chigwell Parish Council on Friday, chaired by Eleanor Laing MP and featuring District Commander Lewis Basford, it was announced four new officers would start work in Epping Forest in April.

A further three would begin in May and then five or six each month throughout the year.

The force increase comes in the context of rising burglary rates places such as Chigwell and Buckhurst, where 61 and 77 per cent more burglaries took place respectively in 2015 than in 2017.

Mrs Laing said: "I share the concerns of the residents of Chigwell who are very worried about the rise in crime levels and particularly burglaries."

Det Con Basford told the 250 strong crowd he planned to increase door-to-door visits by officers giving home security advice.

Mrs Laing added: "The meeting was lively and lasted for more than two hours. I was delighted there was such a great turnout on such a cold and wet Friday evening - because our greatest enemy is apathy.

"I am in constant touch with the local police and with local councillors and I welcome the measures being taken to deal with the rise in burglaries.

"I especially welcome the news that our district is to soon see more officers available to police our streets. These 38 officers are in addition to the three officers which are to be funded by Epping Forest District Council.

"I have every confidence in our District Commander who is truly committed to our district.

"I welcome the initiatives that he has put in place and his planning for the future, to ensure that our district is a safe place to live and work."

While news of the extra officers was warmly received by the audience, it is likely they are filling a gap recently formed by Essex Police cuts.

Compared to 2012, now there are 590 fewer officers working for the force county wide - from 3,408 to 2,818.

Essex Police also has the lowest number of officers per head of any police force in England with just 0.17 officers per 1,000 residents.

Another key issue at the meeting was street lighting.

In January 2014 many of the street lamps in Epping Forest started switching off between 12am and 5am, in a bid to save £1.5m a year across Essex.

Mrs Laing said she was not in favour of the switch-off while Chigwell county councillor Gagan Mohindra pledged to have the switch off reversed.

His pledge comes two weeks after Essex Police released analysis seemingly showing no causal link between street lamps being switched off and a rise in nighttime crime.