Northamptonshire burglaries down 60 per cent in last six weeks after police team launched

Operation Crooked is Northamptonshire Police’s campaign to reduce burglary.

As part of the operation the team, which sits within CID, organise police patrols in areas of concern and gather intelligence to prevent burglaries before they happen.

In the week before the team started, there were 130 burglaries in Northamptonshire. This has now reduced to 46 per week currently which is an over 60 per cent reduction. In the lowest week, there were 28 burglaries -nearly an 80 per cent reduction.

Operation Crooked will also see every burglary victim in Northamptonshire guaranteed a visit from the police, an uplift in the quality of investigations, processed forensic hits, and hunts for suspected burglars.

Detective Inspector Wayne Preece, said: “Our intelligence suggests that word has spread among criminals about the work of this team which has contributed to the crime-rate dropping because these people just don’t want to take the risk of being caught.

“I want to be clear that although these figures are encouraging of course, they don’t mean that we will be taking our foot off the gas in any way.

“We continue to work at one hundred per cent to reduce burglaries in Northamptonshire and arrest and charge offenders appropriately."

The force said patrols in areas of concern will continue as will the delivery of crime prevention advice and equipment in these areas. They are also conducting neighbourhood surveys to invest in crime prevention measures.

DI Preece said: “Burglary is a terrible crime to have to live with that can have long-lasting effects on the individual and the surrounding community. We recognise this and are doing everything we can to minimise the risk."

Anyone with information about any burglary, burglar or someone believed to be selling stolen goods to contact police on 101. Alternatively, they can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.