ESSEX Police joined nine forces in the eastern region in a successful three-day operation to tackle offending on our county’s roads.
Last week, our Road Crime Team led a successful Essex operation to tackle criminal use of our roads that saw 22 arrests, drugs seized, and 11 stolen vehicles recovered over three days.
As part of a coordinated approach, they were joined by forces in the east and southeast to carry out policing activities across the region focussing on identifying offenders who use roads to commit crimes, transport weapons or drugs and to evade arrest.
Between, Tuesday 15 and Thursday 17 October, ten forces worked together to support the work of Operation Pandilla and included forces in Surrey, Kent, Thames Valley, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Sussex alongside Essex Police. The forces were further supported by London colleagues in the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police.
Overall, the forces made 126 arrests, seized 13 weapons, dealt with 65 incidents involving drugs and seized cash totalled at £22,000 and recovered 87 stolen vehicles during the 3-day period.
Similarly, Essex Police officers from a variety of teams, made 22 arrests, dealt with 4 incidents involving drugs and also seized cash, and recovering 11 stolen vehicles during this time: they did not locate any weapons.
Inspector Emma Patterson, who led the force’s response said:
My officers worked closely with colleagues both inside and outside the force to achieve some great results during those three days.
And the figures are testament to their hard work, determination, and clear vision on how they can prevent offenders using vehicles to cross the county or go further afield, thinking they are safe to ply their drugs or steal cars.“Some will think that it’s not a crime to not insure your car – it is: ask the owners of the 26 uninsured vehicles we seized.
When it comes to crime, there are no borders and working together with other forces means we can share intelligence to target the right people and place our resources where we’ll get the best results for our communities.
By focussing on the road network, we never know what types of crimes we will come across, but we’re alert and ready for anything that happens.
Essex arrests included:
- A 19-year-old man arrested in connection with a stolen motorbike and in possession of cannabis deal bags.
- Two arrests for driving under the influence of drugs.
- Three drink drivers.
- A woman was arrested in connection with a burglary in the Thurrock area in September.
- A man wanted in connection with a shop theft in London.
- Sighting of a moped stolen in London saw our Road Crime Team work with the Metropolitan Police officers to bring it to a stop the moped to a stop allowing the arrest of the rider and passenger.
- 54 traffic offence reports completed.
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