How many times have you walked past an undercover police officer in Ilford town centre without batting an eyelid? I can guarantee you it's more times than you think.
I joined Sgt Jamie Warner of Ilford town centre's police team for a day of undercover patrolling with a particular focus on looking out for pickpockets.
The day began in Starbucks where Sgt Warner and his colleague PC Megan Leggatt approached me and said hello - I'd have had no idea they were police officers if I didn't already know what they looked like.
Sgt Warner briefly explained the signs and giveaways that he keeps an eye out for when patrolling the streets and warned me that we may have a "boring" day with very little action or we may have an exciting one involving an arrest or two - luckily for us, it was the latter.
We headed outside and started strolling down High Road, which was busy despite it being a Thursday morning.
His relationship with business owners and shop security guards was obvious as he stopped to check in with them and ask whether any suspicious activity had been observed.
As he pointed out things he was looking out for, I began to see the streets through his eyes - why is that man in the women's section of that shop on his own?
Why is that woman staring at the cash machine for so long? Is this woman getting too close to the person in front of her in that queue?
Within seconds, he had made his way down the road, round the corner and had a man detained with a fellow undercover officer.
The potential offender was put in handcuffs and held outside the Paddy Power store in Cranbrook Road until a police van arrived to take him away for questioning.
PC Leggatt and I watched from a safe distance until Sgt Warner could come back and explain what had gone on.
The man had been spotted both on CCTV and by a security guard reaching into a woman's pushchair in the Boots store in High Road.
Sgt Warner's team were then alerted immediately and tracked the man until he could be detained.
As the other officers were dealing with the man, Sgt Warner went back to scanning the streets with PC Leggatt and I.
"Always hunting," he said to me with a smile.
It wasn't too long before he sprung into action again.
Another officer phoned him saying he had been observing a young man accompanied by two older men loitering outside a bank.
Sgt Warner disappeared into Superdrug to observe from within the shop whilst PC Leggatt and I went behind a market stall and the other undercover officer took up position elsewhere - all of us seemed to blend in seamlessly.
All three men were at first visibly upset or "scared", as Sgt Warner suspected.
After searching them and declaring them innocent, he explained to me the reason behind the search.
"We know that people watch others from outside and inside banks and we saw someone come out of that bank following an elderly female and we were concerned that it might be a bank-following where her details could be stolen," he said.
"We saw him with a large sum of cash and then go straight to a cash machine to withdraw more money - that is suspicious activity to us so we stopped and searched all three of those men for items that may have been stolen or items that would help them steal."
The older men were actually his father and uncle who claimed to be there for his protection as they know the risks of handling cash in public.
"You're good at your job," they told Sgt Warner with a nervous smile as they were allowed to continue on their day.
That was the final action of the shift as Sgt Warner had to return to the station to assist in questioning the man they arrested earlier.
I found the experience utterly fascinating to see the work that goes into tackling theft in Ilford and it has really made me consider who might actually be an undercover officer next time I'm walking through the crowds of a town centre.
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