Thefts down by 28%, house burglaries by 32% as Operation Crooked gets bigger tackling crime in Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire Police say they will not ease up in the battle against crime despite more significant falls in the number of break-ins and thefts in the county.

Home invasions plummeted to a 12-year-low in just a year after the Force launched Operation Crooked to crack down on residential crime — a top priority since Chief Constable Nick Adderley joined the Force in 2018..

Fresh figures published by the Office for National Statistics last week also revealed more falls in the number of thefts from people, property and vehicles.

And police revealed Operation Crooked has now been expanded to continue the war on crime.

Assistant Chief Constable Simon Blatchly said: “Reducing home invasions in Northamptonshire remains one of our top priorities and Operation Crooked has now expanded with two teams — one on the north and one on the west — dedicated to tackling burglaries and burglars.

“After only the first year of Operation Crooked, home invasions were down by 34 per cent, we had 1,000 fewer victims, made over 250 arrests and a number of prolific offenders were sent to prison.

“Despite this significant reduction, we do not plan to ease up whatsoever as we know how deeply being a victim of burglary can affect a person.

“Everyone has the right to feel safe in their homes and Northamptonshire Police is committed to protecting that right and bringing those who threaten it to justice.”

Overall, the ONS revealed the number of thefts in the county fell by 16 per cent to 21,987 in the 12 months to March.

Burglaries were down 20 per cent to 4,846, residential break-ins fell 32 per cent to 2,642 and thefts from vehicles were down 17 per cent to 6,514.

Thefts from persons in Northamptonshire also tumbled by 28 per cent to 424 — although the number of robberies rose by 16 per cent, linked to rises in knife crime and firearms incidents.

Bike thefts were also down by eight per cent to 829 although the number of shoplifting offences showed a slight rise of one per cent to 4,212 during the year.

Chief Constable Nick Adderley added: “Burglary has always been a top priority for me and I am delighted to learn that burglaries in Northamptonshire have reduced so much.

“Some people may think that because we’ve achieved a decent reduction, we’re now going to focus on something else. This is absolutely not the case.

“I have expanded the Operation Crooked team and am investing more and more resources in order to hammer down this reduction even further.

“My message to burglars really is very simple – we will not tolerate you in Northamptonshire and you will be caught.”