POLICE arrested 27 people in just six days as part of a tough new crackdown on burglars and thieves in Downley and Totteridge.

Operation Gaunt was launched last week in response to an alarming rise in burglaries on the two High Wycombe estates in recent months.

Police say most of the people arrested are local to the areas. They have been looking for opportunist thieves in their late teens and early 20s funding drug habits.

At a press conference at High Wycombe Police Station on Tuesday, leading officers claimed the intelligence-led initiative had already cut burglary rates and was proving a success. Superintendent Mick Tighe, who ordered the operation, explained Downley and Totteridge were identified as having become burglary hot spots in September and October last year. At that time the areas were experiencing a total of more than 20 burglaries a week.

He said a hard core of opportunist criminals were behind the problem and that a team of five detectives and beat officers had been targeting them through Operation Gaunt.

In the six days following the launch of the initiative, three burglaries were reported in Totteridge with a further four in Downley.

Superintendent Tighe added: "This is a case of actually getting these people in custody, disrupting their activities and reducing the crime rate. I genuinely believe this is what the public would want."

Thames Valley Police described Operation Gaunt as 'dynamic' because detectives and officers used intelligence information gleaned from previous and ongoing investigations to disrupt criminals before they strike and successfully catch them after an offence has been committed.

Inspector Richard List, sector commander for High Wycombe, said: "There is a great deal of work ongoing with our partners to tackle the issue that includes intelligence gathering, crime reduction measures, targeting known offenders and of course high-profile patrols in the areas most affected."

February 15, 2002 10:30