North Essex: 11 caught in operation (From Gazette)

North Essex: 11 caught in operation

8:02pm Tuesday 15th July 2008 in

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Eleven arrests have been made as part of a joint road policing initiative between Essex and Kent police forces.

Operation Lockdown was first introduced in May and uses four intercept teams, equipped with automated number plate recognition (ANPR), with the aim of reducing crime on the main routes in and out of Essex.

For the duration of the 60-hour operation, officers "locked-down" the major access roads.

The latest arrests bring the total number since the operation first began to 31.

Inspector Paul Moor, head of ANPR in Essex, said: "This joint operation between Essex and Kent officers was very successful, denying offenders the use of the roads.

"ANPR technology is used discreetly, so criminals have no idea where we will be at any given time. Using this tactic makes it far more difficult for "hit list" vehicles to avoid interception, and has resulted in a significant number of high quality arrests."

Further operations are planned for the remainder of this year in both Kent and Essex.

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