Two stolen cars and a stolen motorhome were recovered as police launched a pre-emptive operation to tackle auto-crime.
Specialist officers from a range of departments including traffic, intelligence, neighbourhood policing and the Operation Reacher team were deployed as part of Operation Star in order to combat cross-border offending.
A mixture of advanced, marked and unmarked patrol cars were tactically placed in the area, working together with divisional officers with a local knowledge of the area.
Roads policing teams who enforce road traffic laws and seek to detect and deter other illegal or dangerous activity on the roads were committed to the area as part of the operation.
Static and mobile number plate recognition cameras were also deployed to monitor suspicious activity.
Officers recorded a number of successes during the operation, including:
- Recovery of a stolen Ford Eco Sport at Carlton-in-Lindrick. Two suspects were detained and arrested – the driver being disqualified from driving. This vehicle had been stolen cross-border. A weapon was also recovered
- A stolen motorhome was recovered form Worksop that had been stolen in South Yorkshire. Investigations are ongoing
- Following an attempted theft of a car, officers quickly tracked down a suspect vehicle which subsequently failed to stop. A stinger device was used to bring it to a halt and two young men were arrested. The vehicle was found to be stolen from the West Yorkshire area and was found to have false plates and a machete inside. Both suspects have been released on bail while the investigation continues.
Officers will continue to run the operation as a result of its success.
Area beat manager PC Lee Ryan said: “We have seen a rise in vehicle-related crime over recent months and in order to tackle to this, Operation Star has been created to allow resources from specialist departments throughout the force to come together to target offenders.
“We have some fantastic results so far and feedback from the community has been positive. We will continue to target those who commit crime within our area by using the valuable resources we have available to us.”
Tackling rural crime is a key priority of Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry, who has helped to secure new officers and equipment as part of her rural crime plan.
Additional money is now being used to invest in new state-of-the-art equipment including new drones, off-road motorbikes, fixed and mobile Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, thermal imaging goggles and 4×4 vehicles.
