More than 100 arrests and 4,000 officer hours in seven days

Officers across Essex have carried out more than 4,000 officer hours in one week to tackle anti-social behaviour and knife-enabled crime in our county – arresting 100 people in the process.

Almost 800 officers across the week have taken on work targeting ASB, violent offences and seeking out suspects of high-harm crime such as sexual assault and burglary.

Superintendent Phil Stinger said:

“Each of these arrests is the result of dozens of officer hours, pulling together intelligence and the fullest picture of an incident.
“It means we can carry out the warrants for their arrests, put officers on patrol in the right areas, and find the crucial evidence we need to seek charges from the Crown Prosecution Service.
“Dangerous offenders, some breaching court orders and others with warrants for their arrest, are now in custody or prison thanks to this work.
“This work goes on year-round – and we are back to work today keeping Essex safe.”

‘We can only do this with your support’

As well as arresting 100 individuals, officers have conducted 32 weapon sweeps finding more than a dozen weapons in public places, stopped and searched 112 people, carried out 25 licencing checks, and attended more than 50 community events and public meetings.

Stop and search is never used lightly and police officers will only exercise their legal right to stop members of the public and search them when they genuinely suspect that doing so will further their investigations into criminal activity.

All of these activities and powers help us to tackle existing ASB and to discourage future ASB or criminality.

Supt Stinger added:

“ASB has a significant impact upon our communities.
“We know our crime prevention work and our response to these incidents is crucial in maintaining the public’s confidence in policing.
“This operation is the latest step in years of work that has led to a 60% drop in incidents of ASB since 2019.
“We have only been able to achieve this with the support of the public.
“By reporting incidents and working with our officers to make sure we are informed of any issues in their communities, we will bring ASB down even further."

Safe on the roads

In the same week, our officers also stopped 1,242 vehicles, carried out 1,835 speed checks, recorded 499 traffic offences and seized 75 vehicles being driven without insurance.

Essex’s Roads Policing Unit are out across the county every day making sure motorists are following the rules of the road.

Our officers will also stop vehicles they identify as connected to criminality, which is a key tactic in disrupting the behaviour of offenders.

Supt Stinger added:

“Everyone has the right to use our roads safely, and that means obeying the law on our highways.
“This week of results shows just how far our officers go to catch those who shouldn’t be on our roads.”

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