Police launch campaign to drive car crime out of Bury

Date published: 20/07/2009

Police in Bury are carrying out a crackdown on car crime in response to an increase in the amount of incidents across the division.

Since 1 April, the amount of car crime across the division has risen by 12 per cent compared to the previous year while the number of thefts from vehicles has risen by 15 per cent. This equates to an extra 58 victims of crime.

During this time 142 vehicles have been stolen with the vast majority taken from residential streets and around half of these vehicles were recovered locally.

The most common items stolen are sat nav systems, mobile phones and items of personal property which are left on display in the vehicle such as sports equipment, briefcases and sunglasses.

Almost half of the offences occurred as a result of the vehicle being left insecure.

The increase in incidents has prompted the launch of Operation Cobalt which features a number of proactive policing initiatives designed to reduce car crime across the borough and arrest and convict criminals.

Tactics include increased police patrols, executing warrants at the homes of known offenders and the deployment of automatic number plate recognition cameras to identify offenders traveling into the division by car.

Officers are also working closely with partner agencies and will be utilising Bury Council CCTV cameras which overlook car parks and vulnerable areas. They are also sharing information on vulnerable areas with car park company NCP and local authority parking enforcement officers.

Chief Inspector Sean Hogan said: “We take car crime very seriously and by launching Operation Cobalt we aim to take the fight to the criminals and show we are determined to drive this distressing crime out of Bury.

“I would also urge motorists to take steps to avoid becoming a target for criminals such as never leaving items on show in cars as even inexpensive items such as CDs can prove an open invitation to thieves. I would also advise against leaving cars in unlit, secluded streets and recommend the use of garages and secure car parks wherever possible.”

As part of the operation, officers are running car crime clinics at supermarket car parks throughout the division during which they will fit special safeplate screws to car registration plates which stops them being stolen by thieves who use them to commit offences such as car cloning and making off without payment from petrol stations.