19 arrests made across Northamptonshire during week-long ANPR police operation focused on serious violence

During the course of a week-long ANPR operation in Northamptonshire, 82 vehicles were stopped and 19 arrests were made.

ANPR - Automatic Number Plate Recognition - reads the registration of passing vehicles and checks them across several databases, raising the alert if a vehicle is stolen, linked to crime/intelligence, or doesn’t have the correct documentation.

The week of action, which took place last week, saw officers focus on serious violent offences.

On Monday, two men were arrested after their vehicles were stopped – one for a high-risk domestic stalking offence and the other in connection with an incident where a man threatened to burn a house down.

Tuesday saw multiple arrests for robbery, domestic abuse and theft, as well as the stopping and seizing of a vehicle believed to be on cloned plates.

As the week progressed, more arrests were made for domestic violence, robbery, drugs offences, rape, those wanted on recall to prison and a 31-year-old man arrested in connection with grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving.

ANPR Manager Jamie Culverhouse said: “Last week kicked off ten-weeks of surge activity which will focus on tackling serious violence and I’m really pleased with the results we achieved.

“ANPR is an invaluable piece of technology in taking our fight back to the criminals and these results once again demonstrate how dangerous a tool it is if you are an offender looking to evade the police.

“I hope the public in Northamptonshire are reassured by these results and I want to reaffirm our commitment in continuing to utilise it to keep people safe and to bring those people who threaten that safety to justice.”

More than 150 additional new ANPR cameras have been installed since 2020, increasing coverage across rural areas and major towns as well as on the county borders.

Officers say they would like to utilise this resource as much as possible by asking members of the public to get in touch with details of suspicious vehicles that they feel officers need to look out for.

Anyone who knows a vehicle involved in crime is asked to call 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.