Burglary crackdown: 78 arrested in first week (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Burglary crackdown: 78 arrested in first week

3:23pm Tuesday 7th July 2009 in

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Police have arrested 78 people in the first week of their month-long campaign aimed at tackling burglary in Lancashire.

Almost £60,000 of stolen property has been recovered and nearly 600 visits and warnings carried out on burglary suspects.

More than 1,100 burglary suspects have been stopped and searched, 42 search warrants have been executed and 13 vehicles seized, as well as 114 visits to second hand shops.

Supt Chris Bithell said: "I am very pleased with all the activity that has been carried out so far but this is just the start and we will continue to focus our activities on those people who persistently commit burglary offences so that we can reduce even further the number of victims affected by these crimes."

Operation Julius will continue to run throughout July and is aimed at preventing crime, targeting criminals involved in burglary and detecting burglary offences.

Action during Operation Julius includes identifying Lancashire's top 30 burglary offenders, executing warrants and providing high visibility police patrols in burglary hot spot areas as well as enforcing a 'ring of steel' to ensure non-Lancashire offenders cannot come into the county to commit burglaries.

Officers are using a range of overt and covert tactics to tackle suspected offenders, some of which may involve filming them to prevent burglaries, the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology and warning letters.