POLICE officers targeting drug gangs and serious violence across north Essex seized an estimated £350,000 worth of drugs in 2022.
North Disruptor is one of three such teams in Essex who work with other local and specialist teams to target organised criminal activity & behaviour that impacts local communities, and to bring offenders to justice.
Disruptor officers often go out on proactive plain-clothes patrols and during the year they also stopped and searched 275 people across the Braintree, Chelmsford, Colchester, Maldon, Tendring and Uttlesford districts.
Sergeant Bull, of the North Disruptor team, said: “Drug use, drug dealing and drug supply is associated with serious violence and causes a great deal of harm to our communities and to vulnerable people within them.
“Stop and search is a good tactic to help keep people safe because it disrupts and deters criminal activity, particularly the carrying of knives and dealing of drugs in public.
“We mount various proactive policing operations, working with working with other specialist policing teams to identify and arrest suspects for other crimes.”
North Disruptor officers arrested 156 people on suspicion of a variety of offences during 2022, including attempted murder, assault causing grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary, conspiracy to supply controlled substances, conspiracy to convey controlled substances into a prison, possession of drugs with intent to supply, cultivation of cannabis, affray, careless driving and driving without insurance.
They also seized approximately £200,000 in cash suspected to be the proceeds of crime and recovered several weapons, including machetes and other knives.
A 23-year-old Peterborough man was stopped by disruptor officers in Dovercourt in October after they spotted him throwing away a knife.
He was jailed for 16 weeks by Colchester magistrates after admitting possession of a knife in a public place.
Sergeant Bull added: “it’s the warrants which really enable us to tackle the dealers and suppliers at source and take large quantities of drugs off our streets.
“Please tell us what you know about criminal and anti-social behaviour in your area.”
Call 999 in an emergency or to talk about a crime in progress, alternatively you can report online between 10am and 9pm on weekdays.
Contact Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555 111.
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