Police raid homes in Northumberland

Jun 24 2009 by David Black, The Journal

A NEW police crackdown on North East criminals is making its mark in Northumberland, after raids were carried out on homes in a former pit town yesterday.

Uniformed officers swooped on two properties in Milburn Road, Ashington – one a flat above a fish and chip shop and the other a house just across the road.

They smashed the front doors and carried out searches for stolen property, before arresting a 31-year-old man and a woman on suspicion of burglary.

The Northumberland raids – named Operation Cheviot – were carried out as part of the Northumbria Police summer campaign, Let’s Draw A Line Under Crime.

It is using information and tip-offs from the public to target acquisitive crime during the economic recession, including house burglary, theft from cars, shop theft, robbery and handling stolen goods.

On Monday, officers carried out three warrants in the Blyth and Bedlington areas, which resulted in class-A drugs being seized along with a stolen bicycle. A 28-year-old man was arrested and charged with drugs offences and a 40-year-old woman was arrested in connection with burglary.

In addition, police arrested and charged James McPhail, 26, of no fixed abode, in connection with four burglaries in the Blyth area. He appeared at Bedlington magistrates’ Court and was remanded in custody to appear at Newcastle Crown Court later.

Yesterday Dt Chf Insp Rob Coulson, of the Northumberland Area Command, said the operation followed successful recent crimefighting work across the county, which has seen 150 fewer cars broken into, 21 fewer house burglaries and 80 fewer commercial break-ins than in the same period last year. “We anticipated the credit crunch would impact on crime, in particular acquisitive crime such as robbery, theft and burglaries. This is exactly why we shifted our focus as economic events unfolded last year and led to us placing extra attention on tackling serious acquisitive crime.

“Over the past year serious acquisitive crime offences dropped by more than 1,000, while overall crime fell by 3.4%. By continuing to work closely with partners and the public we will strive to continue bringing that number down.

“By carrying out operations like this we are sending a message to criminals in Northumberland the police and the communities will not tolerate people making a living through crime. We will continue to work together with the public to identify problems, find solutions and make our communities stronger.”

The initiative runs until August 21 and will involve police carrying out operations to tackle offenders, while also pushing the crime prevention message and advising people how to protect themselves from opportunist thieves.