Bedfordshire burglaries halve thanks to new police task force

More officers are to join a new burglary task force in Bedfordshire after the number of break-ins halved and detection rates trebled.

Operation Maze involves forensic officers being sent to every break-in as well as directly targeting known serial offenders.  Home security advice has also been given out to 40,000 households in known hotspot areas - with doorbell cameras also helping.

The move marks a shift from previous approaches by some forces, where burglary cases were closed often within hours if there was no CCTV or forensic evidence readily available.

Detective Superintendent William Hodgkinson said: "Last year there was only one image that we weren't able to identify. Our officers are so knowledgable about the offenders they can even pick up on an offender just by the way they walk."

Northamptonshire Police have also pledged to send an officer to every single burglary.

So far, their operation, named Operation Crooked, has cut domestic break-ins across the county by 48% in two years, from 5,500 burglaries in 2019, to 2,850 in the 12 months to December last year.

In Northamptonshire, officers have issued named photos and appeals for six of its most wanted burglars. They range from the oldest, a 50-year-old woman, wanted for a burglary in December 2020, to the youngest, a 22-year-old man wanted for a June 2021 break-in.

They also sent Christmas cards to known or suspected burglars, telling them to have a crime-free Christmas.

Detection rates in Bedfordshire have nearly trebled from 8.2% at its launch to 22.8% last November- a peak month for burglaries, as thieves exploited the clocks going back and nights closing in earlier.

The force said it has also reduced burglaries by an average of 34 a month across the county for the entire year.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire, Festus Akinbusoye, said: "We want our residents to know that their home is their castle as it were, and if anyone does interfere with their properties then we will pursue them, we will target them, and we will send them to prison."

The forces have been praised by Home Secretary Priti Patel, who said: "It is thanks to forces such as Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire who are focusing on getting back to the basics of policing that we will continue to cut neighbourhood crime like burglary, which has dropped by more than 30% in the last two years."

Other forces are now being urged to do the same.