Police hail offender surveillance

The week-long experiment was called Operation Bright Shadow

A police operation in Essex where officers followed and filmed known and prolific offenders has cut house burglaries by 44%, police said.

Operation Bright Shadow in Laindon ran during the last week of May.

Essex Police said thefts from sheds and garages in the area fell by 54% compared to the same period in 2008.

Insp Simon Anslow said: "This operation has targeted the right people and has proved to be value for money, having achieved a significant reduction."

Build on success

He said: "In real terms, we have reduced the amount of victims that are left with the long-term effects this can have on people's lives and to me that is more important than statistics."

Police targeted a list of known offenders over the course of the week and kept them under observation.

These individuals had all been previously convicted for offences including burglary.

Insp Anslow said: "We will not be complacent and will continue to target burglars in various ways in our day-to-day business.

"We will build on this success with future deployments of this tactic to ensure that these prolific offenders have a shadow they can be afraid of."