Police have welcomed news of a dramatic drop in the number of people falling victim to bogus callers.

A number of high profile campaigns in Essex have seen the number of people being duped by conmen decrease by almost a third in the last year.

New figures show that in the 12 months leading up to April 2003 there were 340 bogus caller crimes committed across the county compared to 495 in the previous year.

The force launched Operation Grizzlybear in 2002 after the figures peaked to target those carrying out crimes as well as educating vulnerable groups, like the elderly.

Crime reduction officers have been working with Essex Trading Standards and community groups to ensure people are aware of the methods used by unscrupulous conmen.

They have highlighted the dangers posed to people and steps they can take to protect themselves.

Det Chief Insp Bob Seals, assistant director of intelligence at Essex Police, said: "We have achieved this dramatic drop in artifice burglaries with good input from staff and, we believe, a good response from the public."

The Evening Gazette's If In Doubt Keep 'Em Out campaign has also backed the work of the police by telling people how to remain safe in their own homes.

But officers stressed the work was not complete and said they would be continuing to tell people to remain vigilant to bring the crime figures down even further.

Force crime reduction officer, Insp Dave Northcott, said: "We have been working very hard to ensure the message regarding artifice burglars and aggressive traders gets to the right people.

"Many of the offences that have happened are preventable, if we give potential victims advice on how to deal with unexpected callers we hope to stop even more of these offences taking place."

Published Monday, June 9, 2003

Brought to you by the Evening Gazette