A specialist police team has secured more than 700 criminal charges in its first year of targeting prolific offenders across Cambridgeshire.
The northern spree offender team, launched in July last year, focuses on tackling prolific offenders in Peterborough and Fenland, with a strong emphasis on protecting the retail sector.
In its first 12 months, 262 arrests were made and 731 offences charged, including shoplifting, burglary, assaults, drugs offences, criminal damage, and breaches of court orders.
Detective Chief Inspector Chris O’Brien, the force's lead for retail crime, said: "I am proud of the hard work of the team and Peterborough Positive in their joint work to enhancing the Disc platform.
"It now allows incidents to be reported directly to us, together with business impact statements and witness statements.
"This means we can promptly start our investigations and work to identify those involved."
The team's success builds on a similar scheme piloted in the south of the county and involves collaboration with neighbourhood policing, acquisitive crime, and integrated offender management teams.
Partnerships have also been developed with organisations such as Peterborough Positive, the city’s Business Improvement District (BID).
Officers have worked closely with local businesses to address the underreporting of retail crime and improve the use of Disc, a secure intelligence-sharing system used by BID members.
Detective Inspector Tim Archer, who oversees the northern spree offender team, said: "I am incredibly proud of the team’s achievements over the past year, particularly their ability to work proactively and pinpoint emerging spree offenders, acting quickly to make an arrest and put them before the courts.
"Going forward into the next year, the team will continue to strengthen their relationships with the retail community and partner agencies, as well as apprehending the spree offenders across the district who have such a significant impact."
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