Essex Police have to date (6pm) arrested nine people during a day-long blitz against criminals in Essex, including six people on suspicion of burglary.
Operation Talon started at 8am today (Thursday, 25 July) and is set to continue until 3am tomorrow (Friday, 26 July).
More than 100 officers and staff have been working at 12 sites across the road network in Essex to target suspects involved in burglaries and other travelling criminals.
To date 506 vehicles have been checked by officers with 26 drivers having their vehicles seized at the roadside for insurance or licence offences, 98 seatbelt offences and 67 tickets for other offences. One knife was recovered at the roadside, believed to have been thrown away before the occupants were stop-checked.
The enforcement action has included the nine arrests:
*Four men, aged between 24-34 were arrested in Basildon on suspicion of burglary, arrested at Trafford House, Cherrydown East, Basildon.
*A 48 year old man from Clacton area was arrested in Colchester on suspicion of theft of tobacco from Cambridge
*A 42 year old man from South Norwood, London SE25 was arrested in Grays on suspicion of being a disqualified driver and obstructing police. His passenger, a woman, received a fixed penalty notice for allowing her car to be used by someone with no insurance to drive it.
*A 30 year old man from Brentwood area was arrested as he was wanted on suspicion of making off without payment for fuel when his car was stopped in the Grays area.
*A man aged 30 and a woman aged 31, from Southend were arrested in Southend on suspicion of burglary and car theft.
In addition to these arrests 26 drivers have had their vehicles seized by police at the roadside after they were unable to provide insurance details or were driving otherwise than in accordance with their driving licence.
Chief Superintendent Andy Prophet, who has been in charge of the operation, said: “We are very pleased with the success of the operation so far and are expecting the arrests to continue as we head into the evening.
“Operation Talon was set up to target burglars and other travelling criminals using the roads of Essex. Our message to them is this: ‘Your time is up. We will deny you the use of our roads and stop you travelling within Essex to commit crime’.
“This is just the first in a series of operations to target these criminals until they get this message that they are not wanted in Essex.”
He added that the force had established its checkpoints on the basis of crime pattern analysis, expert policing knowledge and advice from local Policing Commands.
Some of the sites have been moving during the day to increase the effectiveness of the operation in case suspects try to find alternative routes.
Officers and staff involved in the operation have included members of the operational policing command, local policing areas, serious crime directorate, criminal investigation department, special constabulary and police community support officers.
They have been using Automatic Number Plate Recognition equipment to target suspects, along with road checks and directed patrols, complemented by dedicated custody, intelligence, communications, logistics and investigative support.
A number of partner agencies have also been involved including the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency, HM Revenue & Customs, Department for Work & Pensions and the UK Border Agency.
Chief Superintendent Prophet said: “Our aim has been to cover all the bases so that if we pick up any suspects we can look at them for offences across a whole range of legislation.
“We have also deployed casualty reduction officers at three locations to offer advice to all motorists on staying safe.
“But this has not been about targeting law abiding motorists it has been aimed at taking career criminals off the roads and reducing the amount of burglary and other serious crime committed in Essex.”