Camden New Journal - News: Bulglaries

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Camden New Journal - by PAUL KEILTHY
Published: 30 August 2007

49 held in blitz on burglaries

AN undercover anti-burglary operation in Camden has resulted in 49 arrests in three weeks.
Scotland Yard officers normally reserved for riot duties were drafted in to join plain-clothes officers from Camden’s force to tackle the borough’s high burglary rate. In June, 328 homes were broken into in Camden, the highest number of any London borough.
While increased uniformed officers patrolled areas where burglaries are rife, the borough intelligence unit used incident maps to detect burglars moving onto new ground – and sent plain-clothes police out to track them.
Detective Gary Poulter said the operation had reduced burglaries by 20 per cent compared with last year.
He said: “High visibility presence does reduce crime, but it also displaces it. If over the previous 24-hour period we saw there was a crime pattern we either put in more uniformed presence or used covert methods.
“We also had a robust approach to suspects. We were looking at them to ensure they were adhering to conditions imposed by the courts.”
Camden police came under pressure after missing Home Office and Met Police targets on burglary last year, when break-ins rose sharply despite successes elsewhere in the capital.

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