War on burglary being won according to Redbidge Police

The number of home burglaries and robberies in the borough has fallen during the past 12 months.

During the past year residential burglaries dropped by 11 per cent but non-residential burglaries increased by 9.3 per cent.

Det Insp Craig Robinson said the fall was due to targeting crime hotspots, as well as known offenders.

He said: “The challenge is to get non-residential burglary down – that can be something like someone breaking into a shed.”

He said the burglary figures were very high in Redbridge in the previous two financial years, which was why it was a focus for police.

“We have had high numbers – some of the highest in the north east of London and on some days we had more burglaries than anywhere in London,” he added.

“We specifically targeted burglary with patrols around hotspot areas and targeting known offenders. We will use any method that we can to stop them.”

Robbery against the person fell by 13.6 per cent and robberies of business fell by 20 per cent.

More action has also been taken on robbery.

Mr Robinson said: “We have increased patrols targeting those selling stolen goods and used search warrants in mobile phone shops.

“We also had a case in June where 13 youths were put away for a total of 44 years and that made a significant impact on our robbery stats.”

Other tactics include using number plate recognition devices to find cars which are uninsured.

“We are also working with Essex police with number plate recognition to catch vehicles used in robberies,” Mr Robinson said. “If there’s a burglar or criminal involved then they probably won’t insure their car and we will find it.”