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Tackling vehicle crime is a force priority, and as a result of our hard work, we’re starting to see a fall in vehicles being stolen and solving more vehicle crimes.
In the last three months, 130 fewer vehicles were stolen between April to June, a fall of 8.5% compared to the same period last year. In Thurrock specifically we’ve seen a fall in the number of vehicles stolen in the last 12 months.
Superintendent Shaun Kane who leads the force’s policing response, said:
We’re now taking the same approach to tackling vehicle crime as we do to Organised Crime Groups and the organised supply of drugs.
We’re working hard to dismantle the organised criminal networks behind these thefts - to identify the people, patterns of offending and the places involved: that way we can focus our effort where it will be most effective.
We’re utilising the skills of specialist officers from our Serious Crime Directorate to build intelligence and investigate offences.
With additional support of officers in our Road Crime Team, Local and Community Policing Teams, Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit, and other specialist units such as the Operational Support Group, we’re focussing our efforts on identifying, targeting, and arresting those involved in organised thefts by carrying out operations across the county.
Each of those teams brings a set of skills that have contributed to our increased success and in the last 12 months we’ve secured 85 charges for vehicle theft.
In June, our teams worked together as part of a coordinated strike to tackle organised vehicle crime when we made seven arrests and recovered multiple stolen vehicle parts following a series of early morning warrants. Three men were charged with conspiring to commit money laundering in connection with vehicle thefts and they remain remanded into custody.
When it comes to tackling this issue, we will continue to work with partners and other forces to identify cross-border offenders and targeting those involved in the criminal use of roads, so we can keep you safe. Recently, our Road Crime Team located and arrested two men after the Kent stolen car they were driving was located in the Benfleet area. Enquiries discovered that both the driver and the passenger were wanted on recall to prison.
Whether its organised crime or a single stolen vehicle, we’re investing more resources to tackle vehicle crime because we know how devastating the theft of a family car or a business van can be to the owner too.
Each vehicle is an asset that people work hard for and to have it stolen is unforgiveable.
Last year, our Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit identified or recovered more than 700 stolen vehicles, worth £27 million across Essex.
Between 2021 and 2023 they’ve recovered or identified more than 1,800 vehicles worth nearly £60 million and investigated more than 100 chop shops.
In the first three months of this year, they recovered/identified 253 vehicles with a value of £5.3m, attended 16 chop shops, and intercepted 8 shipping containers at the Port of Tilbury containing stolen vehicles or parts.
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