Basildon police have hit vehicle crime hard with a new specialist unit which has put more than 50 people before the courts in just three months.
The Car Crime Unit was formed in mid-January after theft of, and from, cars reached a critical level.
Last November 143 cars were stolen in the Basildon division. The next month the figure went up to 199.
However, after the unit began tackling the problem, the February thefts dropped to 146 and in March the number was down to 120.
In addition, the division's detection rate has risen from 24.5 per cent in November and 19.1 per cent in December, to 35.9 per cent in January and 43.8 per cent in February
PC Andy Unsworth said: "Since the car crime unit was set up we've focused on vehicle thefts.
"We've made better and more use of DNA and fingerprint evidence and are catching more criminals as a result."
Published Thursday, April 24, 2003
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