POLICE TO TARGET PERSISTENT CRIMINALS

HALF of the men stride quickly towards the front door, the others go
to the back. No one says a word.

They pause at the door as one tightens his grip on the hand-held
battering ram before it smashes into the wooden door frame, shattering
the pane of glass and breaking the doorframe.

"Police! Stand still!" one of the plain-clothes police officers
shouts, as they rush into the home of a suspected criminal.

The dawn raid is one of several carried out across west Suffolk this
week as part of Operation First Impact a " a new initiative to target
known, persistent offenders.

The officers in Haverhill, yesterday , raided two properties looking
for a man wanted for burglary and drug dealing. In the second house,
they found and arrested him.

Leading the operation was Det-Insp Stewart Sedgwick , who says the
Home Office's new statistics that the majority of crime is caused by a
few hardcore criminals is "something police officers have known for
years".

"If you can invest time and money in getting them away from their
criminality, it pays more than anything in the long run.

"But first we have to go out, put their doors in and arrest them,"
Det-Insp Sedgwick said.

As the police van was called to take away the prisoner, another
officer commented: "They (the criminals) have a chance to change."

The raids in Haverhill were preceded by operations in Brandon, Bury St
Edmunds and Mildenhall in which a total of nine people were arrested.

Two men were arrested in Mildenhall, on Monday, and charged with
offences of shoplifting.

Five arrests were made in the Brandon area on suspicion of offences
including burglary and handling stolen goods.

Having found the man they wanted in Haverhill, extensive searches were
carried of the properties for drugs and stolen property.

Det-Insp Sedgwick said of the operation: "It is a success. We located
a man wanted for a burglary and arrested him."

Ch Supt Mick Green, western area commander, said: "Evidence shows that
it is a small minority of crime.

"Quality of life can be severely impaired by these individuals and the
message Suffolk police and our partner agencies want to get across is
that their behaviour will not be tolerated."

Chief Constable of Suffolk, Paul Scott-Lee, had launched Operation
First Impact on Monday a " and he quoted new Home Office figures which
reveal 3% of offenders commit 25% of crimes.

Briefing police officers in Bury St Edmunds, Mr Scott-Lee said: "With
Operation First Impact we are going to try and identify a number of
individuals who are routinely breaking the law, making life miserable
for a large number of people.

"We want to come together and take out all those people at the same
time."

The main focus of the operation is to disrupt the criminal activities
of the most prevalent offenders in west Suffolk with police, councils
and HM Customs & Excise all working together.

Mr Scott-Lee said Suffolk was seeing an increase in crimes but not an
increase in the number of people committing those crimes, as Home
Office figures show 10% of criminals commit half of all crimes.

The operation involves up to 50 Suffolk police officers and operates
across the whole of west Suffolk.

Anyone who thinks they may know of someone who could be committing
crime should contact Suffolk police on 01284 774100 or Crimestoppers
on freephone 0800 555111.