Bumper crop of burglary arrests

Beds Police's Operation Fidelity continues to achieve successes in the fight to tackle burglary.
Police are appealing for witnessesPolice are appealing for witnesses
Police are appealing for witnesses

Burglary continues to be down on figures from the previous financial year (2014-15), by a reduction of almost a fifth (19 per cent). This equates to a total of 526 fewer victims of crime than this time last year.

Solved crime is up by 15 per cent, and the dedicated Fidelity team continue to disrupt known offenders by prosecuting them for other criminal activity they are believed to be involved in.

Last week was another bumper one for the team, with a total of 13 burglary nominals arrested by Bedfordshire Police in connection with incidents across the county.

Among these, three were charged and remanded into custody, one charged and bailed, a further four have been bailed with conditions pending a court date, one was recalled to prison and one fined by court.

During the activity a youth absconder was also located and returned to safety, and stolen items linked to burglaries in the county were recovered. Several suspects have now had tracker tags fitted and curfews imposed.

In addition, Carl Drein, 32, of Adelaide Street, was sentenced at Luton Crown Court on Friday (4 March) to a total of 16 weeks in prison for his part in the burglary of a business premises near London Luton Airport in August last year. He was also ordered to pay £100 in compensation.

Detective Chief Inspector Juliette Everett, who leads Operation Fidelity, said: “Our innovative forcewide plan is already reaping results when it comes to burglary, and this is down to the hard work and determination of officers across the force who are committed to driving down this distressing crime type.

“We hope that residents are reassured by our proactive approach to bringing down burglars by whichever means available to us, and I would stress that we are not complacent and have many active investigations still taking place to further disrupt those involved in criminal activity.

“Burglars may think they can run and hide but we are utilising a number of tactics to ensure they are caught out, one way or another.”

For more about Operation Fidelity, visit: http://www.bedfordshire.police.uk/tackling_crime/burglary.aspx