During October, Essex Police - Chelmsford District have been very active in the city centre. One hundred and seventeen arrests have been made in this period.
Today, I joined the police on a walkabout in central Chelmsford, including the High Street, Moulsham Street and Central Park. Speaking with members of the public and local businesses.
The arrests during this period have been for a variety of offences:
Theft/shoplifting 18
Burglary 4
Assault 13
Drugs 9
Robbery 8
Sexual Offences 4
Weapons 3
CBO breach 4
Fraud 3
A number of these arrests are for crimes that did not happen in the city centre itself, but the perpetrators were apprehended when spotted in central Chelmsford.
On top of this there have been a significant number of arrests for bail breaches, warrants and recall to prison. 54 stop and searches have been carried out.
Nine drug dealers have been arrested and prosecuted, partly due to joint plain clothes and uniform operations with British Transport Police. We’ve seen a significant arrest by the county lines team from British Transport Police.
Arrests for theft and burglary cases have included car and bike thefts as well as other thefts. Please keep your bikes firmly locked up- even if they are in your shed or garage.
They have also worked closely with trading standards to enforce illegal sales of tobacco and alcohol products in the City, a large quantity of product has been seized and prosecutions are on-going
A Dispersal Order was used in in the City Centre following a Public Order incident at the Bus Station. Multiple Knife Arch Operations completed in the City Centre shopping precincts and yesterday an operation included use of facial recognition technology.
Four further Criminal Behaviour Orders have been applied for following this week’s arrests, in addition to the four other orders currently going through the courts system (which may result in up to 16 CBO’s for the City this year).
There are record numbers of police officers in Essex. This activity has also been supported by additional funding from the Government for tackling hot spots and anti social behaviour. Thank you to the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex Roger Hirst and all at Essex Police and all partners.
Thank you also to all members of the public for reporting crime and anti social behaviour. Your information makes a huge difference and crime numbers are coming down.
