On Thursday March 31, as part of the Operation Wellington tactic to deter, detect and arrest burglars in Merton, officers from West Barnes and Lower Morden Safer Neighbourhoods Team, Merton Special Constabulary and the South West Area Traffic Unit ran an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) operation in West Barnes Lane and Burlington Road, supported by colleagues from Merton Council’s Trading Standards team.

With Traffic police cars positioned at nearby locations, vehicle-mounted cameras checked each vehicle driving past.

A number of vehicles were stopped as a result of information revealed by these checks, and drivers and occupants questioned.

Burglars often use vehicles to move stolen property or go to areas to commit crime, and ANPR has been a highly useful tactic to stop and arrest burglars.

25 vehicles were stopped during this operation and several searches were carried out using appropriate powers.

One driver was found to be driving without insurance - she was issued with a £200 Fixed Penalty Notice carrying 6 penalty endorsement points for her driving licence.

There were no other offences detected by either the police teams or the Trading Standards, who spoke to commercial car and van drivers.

PC Lee Abberton of West Barnes SNT , who organised the operation, said: “I am really pleased with the success of today’s event.

"The lack of offences and no arrests being made on this occasion obviously means the message is getting through to burglars and criminals.

"West Barnes is not the place to risk visiting!”

More ANPR units will be deployed across the borough, over the next few weeks.

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