Episode 16 Crimewatch Roadshow

Today, on Crimewatch roadshow. The distraction theft scam that is

sweeping the country. Now you see Hello, welcome to the final week of

Crimewatch Roadshow, as ever, we are live today, we have had some

great results so far. Six people arrested, but we want some more.

Let's put criminal where is they belong, behind bars. On the

programme this morning: A night out that ended in violence.

Police need your help to find the men who attacked three students

with a gun and CS gas. Predicting the next burglary, how

police in Leeds know where thieves are going to strike next.

And the quick-handed thief tarting your mobile phones.

The rest of the roadshow team are travelling the country helping to

solve crimes where you are, they are kicking off the week in Leeds,

West Yorkshire. In charge there we have Dave. Where exactly are you?

Good morning, we are on the Cramber Bank Estate in Leeds. They are

pretty hot on neighbourhood policing in West Yorkshire. When

this parade of shops became victim of a mini-crime wave, the police

moved in with a special operation to combat T we will look at that

later. Throughout this week I'm joined on the road by reporter

Nicola Reece, she covers this patch for BBC Look North. From inside the

community centre we are today. A little later I'll be on the

frontline with police officers in the area, as they crack down on

drugs, burglaries and a bit of sheep rustling.

Our first appeal, pay attention and watch carefully, this is a crime

that could happen to any of us. I felt really frustrated at myself

like I should have known what was going on t had lots of pictures and

video was my two-year-old child, I won't get it back. It is a

distraction type of offence, they are asking for directions or

begging for a money saying they need money for an operation so,

people are engaged in conversation. A busy afternoon at Cafe Nero in

hudles field in May this year. It is a convenient area for Sarah to

get together with a colleague. had the laptop out doing a bit of

work. Waiting for an important call from her husband, Sarah had her

mobile phone out on the table. Unbeknown to her, a thief was

operating in town that day and on the prowl for his next victim.

He has had a full walk around Cafe Nero, and looking for mobile

telephones. He has seen Sarah's mobile phone on the table, and he

has purposely targeted Sarah. He came over, he had, what I

detected as a European accent. I was trying to establish really what

was wrong, what he wanted. Trying to look at this piece of paper,

which was some kind of certificate. I asked him if he was asking for

money, because the two things were clicking together. And he pointed

to his eye saying he needed an eye operation. Obbliftkwrous what the

man is really doing, -- Oblivious to what the man is really doing,

Sarah tries to get rid of him. explained we were in a work meeting,

and I should go, it took only 30 seconds for him to come over to us.

Thinking the incident was nothing more than an annoyance, the women

continued to work. It was only really an hour later I

realised what happened, while he was asking me those questions and

distracting me, the piece of paper he was holding out was actually

covering my phone. The thief had brazenly stolen Sarah's �250 phone,

from right under her nose. He was very confident when he was doing T

he maintained eye contact with me the entire time. It was very

difficult to tell the that he was doing anything at all. However, the

thief had no idea that his con had been caught on camera.

This footage shows the crime taking place. Sarah's phone is clearly on

the table before the man speaks to her. But then, just moments later,

as he leaves, her phone is gone. is like a magic trick. They are

very clever at what they. Do they are going up to the victim,

distracting them, either by talking to them or putting their hand on

their shoulder, and they put the piece of paper over the property,

they actually take the property away, so it is very clever and very

quick. I took it at face value, I didn't for one second suspect this

was something coming over to steal something off me. The loss of her

phone was more than just an inconvenience to Sarah. The thief

had walked away with her most precious photographs. Today your

phone is more than something to ring people on t had lots of

pictures and videos of my two-year- old child, which I won't get back.

They were really great moment his captured forever, that I hadn't

downloaded, and has got those, to have someone else having those

images of my child is really upsetting. It is really upsetting

that I personally don't have access to those memories any more, they

are in my head and I can't share them with anybody else.

Serpbt Mandy Mallor is the officer investigating this case, and we

think that this man might be operating as part of a group?

have had many offences around the Huddersfield Town centre and

descriptions of people involved, we believe it is a team of people

committing these distraction thefts. We heard it described as a magic

trick, it was pretty brazen, isn't it? The suspect is entering the

cafe and distracting the person with a piece of paper, they are

putting the piece of paper over the mobile phone, and stealing the

mobile phone and taking the paper away. We know this wasn't the first

time that man had done this, we have footage of the same man n the

same cafe a week later. We see him strolling in, talking to people,

touching people, he has that piece of paper in his hand and he steals

another phone from another customer? We have had a few

incidents in CafeEr in ro, on the day of the offence against Sarah he

was wearing a distinctive jacket, one of the arms was white and one

purple. I appeal to anyone knowing someone with this jacket, to

contact the police. This is the kind of phone arra had, if you were

offered this at a knockdown -- Sarah had, if you were offered this

at knockdown price let the police know. Sarah had a Samsung Galaxy,

this had life moments on for Sarah, I urge anyone with any information

to contact the police. A brazen act, you know the effect on Sarah's life,

you know what to do if you can help on this.

Time for today's wanted faces. These are the people police would

really like you to find. First up, this guy, Neil Ian Van Acre, he's

wanted for conspiracy to supply controlled drugs. He has

connections to Merseyside and Holland. He's broadly built, and

the symbol of Liverpool, the liver bird tattooed on his left arm. Next,

30-year-old Wayne Michael Jackson, he's wanted by officers for

absconding from prison and burglary offences. He's six foot three tall,

with a Liverpudlian accent, he has the name, "Lee" tattooed on his arm

E has connections to great Manchester and Southampton. Jason

Chadwick, he was due to appear before Chester Crown Court on fraud

charges in 2009, but didn't turn up. Detectives believe he's likely to

be staying in Bed & Breakfast accommodation, caravans or hotels,

he has connections to the Blackpool, Manchester and Cheshire areas. If

you know where he is, let us know. Last one for today, Ceri Wilmot,

he's wanted for questioning in Merseyside for conspiracy to supply

controlled drugs, he is has connections to the south of England

E as a distinctive tattoo on his back "Tafi made in Wales", and on

his right foot. If you recognise any of these faces and know where

they are, call the numbers on the screen.

Leave the space in your text number or the message won't get to us.

Back to Nicola in Leeds now. We're here in West Yorkshire for

the next few days, this is an area I know really well, I cover and

report from this area every day on the local news programme. I know

what a busy patch this is for police. Here is just a flavour of

some of the work they do. It is not all Last of the Summer

Wine, and picturesque countryside around here. This is the frontline

reality of policing in West Yorkshire. It is one of the great

urban areas of England. 2.2 million people spread across the cities of

Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield, together with smaller towns like

Halifax and Huddersfield. This region's seen everything from

kidnap cases to serial murders. Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire

ripper, was convicted in 1981 and in 2008, Karen Matthews was found

guilty of kidnapping her own daughter, Shannon. Please come home

Shannon. Two successes for the West Yorkshire Police, that put them in

the national spotlight. Policing isn't something you can do at a

distance, you can only do it at the heart of the community with the

consent and support of the community. In the murky world of

drug crime, West Yorkshire is getting ahead of the dealers, using

information directly from the communities blighted by the problem.

The main thrust of it was to put the fear back on the toes of the

criminals. I feel we have achieved that today. We have a drugs problem,

and drug dealers use firearms to exert their authority, it is

worrying for the public. Like every other police force, West

Yorkshire is facing big cuts to its funding. But the Chief Constable's

determined this won't affect the way they police. What I can tell

the people of West Yorkshire is, that the 2,000 bobbies out in the

neighbourhood policing teams, are there to be visible, accessible and

familiar in the local communities of West Yorkshire.

This parade of shops is pretty much like a parade of shops you would

find in many towns. Like many of those parades they have had their

fair share of anti-social behaviour year. Problems with gangs of youths

hanging around outside, customers feeling intimidated, vandalism,

theft. The pizza place down there had its window shot with an air

rifle. Eventually the police and community decided enough was enough

and wanted to do something about it. You decided to put hidden CCTV

cameras around this area. Why hidden one, I thought they were

supposed to be on view for people? People were reluctant to give crime

and statements which would be used to prosecute offenders. Is it

ethically acceptable? We needed to do something covertly, and using

cameras like that is tightly regulated. You caught people doing

things, what was the result of it? We issued ten warrants and arrested

15 people. We made a six-minute DVD of the anti-social behaviour

activities going on here, we showed it to the parents and the young

people involved. Some of the parents were visibly shaken by what

they saw. Is it continuing? We have received funding for lifetime

cameras, much better over CCTV, which will prevent crime in the

future and instill confidence in the public. Have you reduced crime?

We have, April to June compared to last year anti-social behaviour has

dropped 06% in this area. People are saying they feel safer, which

is important, to keep the communities strong. Thank you very

much indeed. Nicola's now inside with one of the

local residents to see what they think.

Janet Pike, you run the community centre here on the estate. You have

had your fair share of problems over the years, at one point you

were burgled twice within a two- week period? It was a while ago now,

but most of the shops on the parade were burgled. They use the same

modus oprand die, by throwing a brick through the kitchen window.

First they took the safe through the window, two weeks later they

came back and took the computers and the cameras. It is devastating,

we are such a small charity serving the community to think someone in

the community is doing that. This is before the cameras went up,

obviously they are up now, how have the community responded to this, do

they feel they are being spied on? I don't think so, everybody feels a

lot safer. We certainly. Do we have had to put back the safety grills,

but I think it is serving the community to be able to catch the

criminals who were stealing from it. Thank you very much for talking to

us. Time to go back to the studio. Time for a progress report on some

of our appeals, thanks to you we're getting results. On Wednesday we

asked for information on a theft from a mosque in Newport, South

Wales. After the programme we were contacted by a police officer in

Plymouth who thought he recognised the suspect we showed on CCTV.

Since then 43-year-old Anthony Cheek, has been charged in relation

to this crime and 34 other offences. Another good result, after we

showed you some CCTV of alleged theft in the Uxbridge area of

London a31-year-old woman handed herself in at the Police Station.

She was charged with theft and will attend the Magistrates' Court later

this month. Still to come this morning, on Crimewatch Roadshow.

A frightening attack, which left three students fearing for their

lives. And predicting the next burglary.

How police in Leeds know where thieves are going to strike next.

But first, have a look at these crooks on CCTV, in case you spot

someone you know. Just to warn you, there are some really nasty

incidents here. It is gone midnight outside the

Posh Nightclub in Burnley, Lancashire, December last year.

Here is a guy who could do with a few lessons in etiquette. He has

been thrown out. Things get heated and he leaves. But then seven

minutes later he's back. Standing in the queue this time, there he is.

As soon as he gets to the front, he takes his chance and throws a punch,

leaving the doorman with a broken jaw. These are clear pictures f you

know this nightclub brawler, get on the phone.

Just after Christmas last year, in the tower jam lets area of London,

and the fest -- tower hamlets area of London, and the festive spirit

is gone on the 22 from Ilford. Look at the man there as he tries to

snatch a mobile phone from a passenger. The victim does his best

to hang on to it but gets punched for his trouble. The thug leg it is

off the bus, he got away with it this time, but let's make sure he

doesn't get away with it again. A night in February in Southwark. As

a woman walks along the street, the CCTV picks up a man cycling behind

her. Then in random and unprovoked

attack, he stops, punching her three times until she falls to the

floor. The camera then shows him cycling away, and the victim lying

in the street. As he makes his getaway, he removes his hood. Theam

glance arrives, the woman had to undergo -- the ambulance arrives,

the woman had to undergeoemergency surgery and left in a coma for

three days, this man if you know him tell us. We need names. Now

back to nick LA You can, of course, catch criminals

the good old fashioned way by putting bobbies on the beat, on

streets like this, in the hope of catching them in the act. That is

time-consuming and, even more nowadays t costs a lot of money as

well. Here in West Yorkshire, the police are trying a high-tech new

computer system which, they hope will dramatically reduce crime. We

all dread coming home to find our house has been burgled. Almost

800,000 break-ins were reported in the UK last year. But in some parts

of Leeds, they are happening at three-times the national average.

Which means clamping down on the thieves and those who receive their

stolen goods, has to be a priority for the police here.

We received recent reliable intelligence to suggest that the

shop owner is actively sourcing stolen goods. It is 7.00am, and

these officers are getting ready to raid a secondhand shop in Leeds,

where they believe the owner has been involved in receiving stolen

goods. The shop is opened at 9.30am, it is not perceived that any

customers will be present, make sure you are wearing stab vests.

One of the most effective ways to track burglars is to track down the

goods they have stolen, which is why evidence gaergd on raids like

this is so important. The officers go in as soon as the shop opens,

and the owner is arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen

property. For your safety and mine, I will cuff you, OK.'S In the

process of being arrested. Behind me you can see police officers are

now searching the shop. This is very much a traditional form of

policing, they receive information and they track down the suspects.

And whilst this traditional form of policing is very effective, police

in North West Leeds are getting one step ahead of the burglars, by

using a revolutionary new system, which aims to stop the break-ins

happening in the first place. This is Operation optimal, and in

the three months that these computer boffins have been at work,

the number of reported break-ins has gone down by a dramatic 25%.

This is the intelligence centre for the Leeds authority, where police,

local authority work together, analysing intelligence, and

obviously planning how we are going to combat some of the issues around

crime within Leeds. This is how it works. Every single

burglary in North West Leeds is logged, then, by analysing three

weeks worth of break-ins, the computer produces maps which can

predict where the next hot spots will be, street by street, hour by

hour. The optimal project is emerging new technology, -- it is a

merging of new technology with good old fashioned policing techniques.

It gives us a precise steer on how we deploy our officers and where.

Once the danger zones have been identified by the optimal computer

programme, patrols are sent out by control room to saturate those

areas. The computer is using the exact times and locations of

burglaries to forecast where the next crimes will take place. This

is the map produced at the moment. The red bits you can see are

patrols, police patrol that is have been deployed to streets where the

thieves are likely to strike next. Optimal is based on the premise

that burglars are like foraging animals, always returning to the

richest feeding ground. Most burglars are lazy and like familiar

surroundings. Which means if they feel comfortable in the area, they

know the area and the escape routes and the houses, there is a good

chance they will return to the same area, time and time again to commit

offences. Later we will be out on the road with the Optimal teams as

they patrol Leeds. You saw in the film there police officers using

one of these, it is a hand held scanner, and it allows you to track

down stolen goods, such as mobile phones and computers. Let's find

out a bit more about how it works. I will hand it to you, tell as you

little bit about how it works? we do any raids of secondhand shops

or house searches, we can scan them with the barcode and find out

straight away if they are lost and stolen. What do you need to do if

you have equipment at home, and worth a lot of money a computer or

mobile phone, how to you register it? Anything with a barcode you

have in your house, TVs, laptops, anything like that, if you register

the barcode on to immobilise.com, it will be on the national database

and the police will have access to it. You have brought a stolen phone

with you today, show us how it works then? We will scan the phone,

that is the barcode t tell uss on this screen here, that the -- it

tells us on the screen here that the barcode tells us it is a mobile

phone stolen from south Yorkshire, it is west Yorkshire, and stolen

property does get about. The owner will get it back, and the inquiry

is on going, and the owner will get it back. You have details of when

they had it stolen and name and address, what do you do to return

it? We have it in our property now, it is out of the hands of the thief,

at the conclusion of the investigation they will get the

phone back. What was life like for you before you got this gadget, it

seems to have really improved things? It was quite time-consuming,

really, we would have to put everything manually into a computer,

if you are doing a secondhand shop with thousand of computers and TVs

it will ages. Now we can scan them, and it scans every 24 hours to

check if it is stolen since I have scanned it. It is slowly working,

there is not that many people registered and you are keen to get

more people on-line? The more people on-line the more successful

it will be, it is still in early stages in West Yorkshire, and

people need to register on immobilise.com, and people can do

that today. Get on-line, register your goods, back do you.

Wet put a link to that on the website.

If you are on a computer, registering your mobile phone, why

not have a look at the on-line map that allows you to check crime in

your area, at least in England and Wales.

Joining me is David from the national policing unit. Tell us

about the cripe map what it is and how we work it? It enables the

public to go on-line and have a look at the crimes occurring in

their local yafrplt what is exciting for us, we have launch

have the ability to look at crime outcomes, people can go on-line and

look at the crimes have happened, and look at the action the police

have taken and what the courts have done subsequently. We have the

postcode for the CF5 here, that is where we are in Cardiff. If we just

click on here, this is a map that I brought up of the area around where

we are right now here in Wales. There is a number of figures and

numbers here, talk me through it here.

The point point you have located, goes out one-mile radius. You can

see in the last month, or in the month of April, there were 230

crimes that have occurred in that crimes that have occurred in that

area. You can see a number of black dots with a number attached to them,

if you click on any of those it will take you down to street level

and help you see where the crimes have occurred, and which streets

the crimes have taken place, if you hit on the outcomes associated with,

that can you see what action the police have taken, and what happens

when the case goes to court. This is really important for us. If

enables local communities to hold their police to account. Later this

year, when there will be an elected police and crime commissioner, it

basically means the police will be -- able to see what crimes are

being commited and holding people to account. Which is the objective.

As simple as this, we have here the overall crime statistics for the

area we are in, if I click there, we can actually even see the

progress and outcomes of what is happening with those crimes. That

is a new addition to this? That is what we have launched this month,

at any one time you can see what has happened to the crimes that

have been displayed on the site, what action the police have taken,

and what happens to those cases when they subsequently go to court.

That is brilliant wrecks can see here, for example, we have all --

brilliant, we canly seer, for example, still under investigation

141, 11 charges here. These are the things that surely people will want

to see. It is fantastic. That is very general area. You can actually

zoom in a bit closer? You can take that down to street level. That is

the big difference here. You can put a postcode in, as you can see

from that, within a one-mile radius you can see what has happened. You

can look at particular streets. Also you can go on and look at

parks, or certain roads, public houses, places like that, where

there is a particular point of interest, and then the public can

look to see what the relevance of that particular location is. When

you say street level, there will be people who think this is a bit

intrusive, and identify homes and brem misses from victims? That is

not the point, -- Premises of victims? That is not the point, we

have made sure that won't happen. You can see crimes that have

occurred within eight postcodes, not one postcode, you are seeing a

crime that happened on or another that location. That way you can see

the information and we can present it in a way that is useful, but at

the same time we preserve people's privacy. That is really important,

I think it is an absolutely fantastic thing, it is very easy to

use, I'm not very good at computers and I can use it. It is brilliant.

Thank you for joining us this morning.

morning. Let's go back over to Dave in Leeds.

Now to the frightening story of what happened to three students as

they headed home after a night out iners field. You knew they were

there and following us. In my head it was like is this really

happening to me. It was only a second for me seeing

the gun to deciding to grab it. Huddersfield Town centre, on the

24th of April this year. It had been a typical night out for these

three students, who were looking forward to the end of their degree

course, after four years of study. A few drinks had turned into a late

finish. And, at about 3.00am, they set off home, along a route their

university advises students to take. There is no reason for us to be on

edge, or paranoid that someone's following us, or someone's going to

jump out and try to mug us or attack us. It has never happened

before, you never really hear about it in that area. But little did

they know, that nearby, two men had every intention of making sure

their night out didn't end happily. And it was when the students

reached this road, that the two began to follow them.

We were just crossing over the bridge, and Luo, said to me, -- Luo,

said he thinks the guys were following us, we turned around to

have a look. They looked shifty. I didn't get a good look at them, but

they had their hoods up, maybe about 100 yards behind us.

Eventually Lewis managed to convince his friends that they were

being followed, and they quickly came up with a plan. The plan was

to walk up to the street that our house is on, but not go to our

house directly, we didn't want them to follow us to our door. But the

two men weren't that easily fooled. We turned into our street, I hear

them shout behind us. They ran at us and said give us your wallet and

your phone. With that one of them produced a gun. But even when he

was confronted by what appeared tob a firearm, ar Ron -- to be a

firearm, Arron decided he wasn't going to give in that easily.

was stood so close to me I didn't consider it a threat i just tried

to grab it off him straight away. It was like a split second decision.

The guy himself was a bit smaller than me, I thought I could maybe

have him. Whilst Arron was locked in battle with the armed man, his

friend Lewis saw an opportunity to raise the alarm. The second attack

her picked out Thomas as his victim. He said he had this gas and will

spray it in my face. I didn't want to give him my stuff. I didn't

believe I was in that much danger, so I stood there.

Despite his frantic attempts to get help from their neighbour, Lewis

failed to get a reply, by that time, events had taken an even more

dramatic turn for Arron. He didn't expect me to take the gun at all,

he hit me around the head and again, then he realised his mistake in

getting too close. At that point the assaliant pointed the gun

straight at Arron. I thought what can I afford to lose,

I went to my pocket, and I had a couple of quid in spare change, I

threw them at him. I don't know if he knew what I had thrown at him,

or he was freaked out thinking I was a bit of a nut. He didn't do

anything, he bolted straight away. The impression we got is they

weren't very used to doing this. I can't really describe how angry I

feel towards them, it sickens me. I'm more worried they will get

confident and go out and do it again. The next people won't be as

lucky. I'm more cautious, I walk quickly and check behind me. It was

shocking to see a gun. You see them in films and stuff. But to see it

in the flesh was scary. The investigating officer is here

now. One of the worrying aspects of this is the use of a gun and CS gas

cannister? Arron didn't believe it was a real gun, but the only person

who knows the answer to that question is the suspect. Real or

not, this thing is ount the street, it is frightening -- out on the

street. It is frightening for people if it is pointed in your

face? It is important to get that off the streets. There were two men

around at the time, why do you want to talk to them? Those two men are

in the right person at the right time, they are vital to my

investigation. They might have seen or heard something? Absolutely.

have CCTV pictures, it is only a brief clip, we can see the guy on

the right is wearing a jacket with a large logo which is distinctive.

Yes, Arron and his friends also describe a jacket that is too large

for the wearer. Basically, those two people you would like them to

come forward. This is a residential area a busy area, presumably

somebody must have seen something coming home that night, or maybe

woken up by the incident outside? It happened at 3.30am on Tuesday

24th of April, they made a lot of noise to raise the alarm. You need

to track these guys before they do this to somebody else, and

something more serious than that. Thank you very much. You have seen

the images, if you recognise the guys, if you are the guys, please

come forward. You can contact anonymously on this case on the

numbers below. Next, more dodgy dealings caught on

CCTV. Lunchtime, April this year in

Woking, Surrey. Two men and a woman enter a pub. They find a table

behind a small group, who are sitting together. This man reaches

into the Tote on the chair behind him, and takes out a purse. He

removes some cash, before replacing it. He moves chairs before rumaging

in the other jacket pocket. After just four minutes the group leave

the bar. They get away with �90 in cash and a mobile phone. Someone

must know them. Give us a ring.

May this year, a Post Office in Uxbridge Middlesex. An elderly

woman sits at the counter writing a birthday card, when suddenly there

is a crowd around her. And while she's distracted, the bloke behind

her leans over and grabs her purse out of her bag.

It has �50 in it. She soon realise it's gone and the theft is reported

only 13 minutes later. Help police catch this mean purse snatcher, by

telling us his name. May this year, Ruislip in Middlesex. This man's

about to fit a device to a cashpoint machine intended to steal

people's cards, and film them entering their pin numbers. Let's

see him again. He filmed this footage himself, with his own

camera, thank you very much. He fits the device to the machine.

He stick it is over the key pad. This time it was intercepted by

police before any cards were stolen. If you know this cashpoint chancer,

key our number in. Don't forget you can see the CCTV and faces on the

website. Now, back to Operation Optimal, the

campaign to reduce crime on the streets of Leeds.

The control room for Operation Optimal, it is the West Yorkshire

Police force's new crime fighting tool. A computer the police claim

can predict crime, and more importantly, stop it happening.

The system has just been updated with details of the most recent

burglaries across North West Leeds. But rather than just sending an

officer to the scene of the crime. This system is designed to stop

more crime happening in the same area.

The idea is based on something the police have long known. When

something like a burglary happens, a new crime is likely to occur soon

afterwards, and close to where the first one happens. What we are find

anything the 13 weeks since we started, is we are sustaining

significant reductions, some of the areas have seen reductions of up to

60%. Since we implemented Operation Optimal. I have been working on

burglary on and off throughout most of my career. I have never seen

anything as accurate as this before. It's getting dark, and the Optimal

team have been deployed to Armley in North West Leeds, this area has

been identified by the system as the latest, late night burglary hot

spot. According to the scenes of optimal, in order to -- science of

Optimal, in order to stop break-ins, police have to be on the streets

identified by the computer at exactly the time it says. The idea

is to saturate the area where it is identified there is likely to be

aburgry, for example the hot spot area of the peak times where

burglaries have been occurring. I have been to a number of

burglaries over the past few days, it has turned into an Optimal area,

between 8.00-12.00am. Patrolling the hot spot areas we like to get

out on foot. Patrolling these dark back streets where you don't

normally get vehicles down, we like to check windows, doors, all the

dark areas where people could be hiding or burgling, a prime example.

Hello. There is some people breaking into

houses in this area, if you close this window when you are not in the

room t stops people from sneaking in, taking your things, and then

run ago I way. Bear that in mind for the future, OK. OK, OK. Thank

you very much. Thank you, cheers.

Even though the main Optimal deployments tend to be at night,

the predictive reports cover 24- hour periods. The team are back out

in Armley, this time in daylight. We are driving through the Armley

key zones. I'm out in high- visibility patrol, in a mobile

police car. On top of this my officers and colleagues are out

both in plain clothes and high- visibility foot patrol. The target

area is flooded with police officers, and they start making the

residents aware of the threat from criminals in the area. There have

been four burglaries in this area in the last 24 hours. All the

evidence shows that thieves like to strike in the same area again, that

is why today Operation Optimal has landed on this street. Hello, Sir,

how are you today? Fine. The reason why we are in the I can't remember

is part of an operation. We will do extensive house-to-house

calls, explaining to the residents why we are there, and how we can

reduce burglaries and what the operation is B it is like any part

of the community role we do, you have to give it a shot and try and

wait for the feedback n this case it has been positive. People are

coming around on the night and trying the garage doors, it is

nearly a nightly event, I'm glad they are doing something like this.

As far as I'm concerned it is a good thing, increase the security

of the area. As an old school police officer, it is difficult for

me to put my faith into a computer programme and maps, but when you

see the results of deployment of police officers, actually, I'm

quite happy to put my officers into a specific area, for a specific

time frame, because I know it will keep my figures down and reduce the

victims of burglary in Leeds. I'm joined now by chief

superintendant David Aldroydn charge of Operation Optimal, has it

worked? Absolutely yesterday, in the first 16 weeks of running the

operation, we have seen a reduction of 25%, which is 435 less victims

ofburgry, compared to the 16 weeks before. In that particular area,

what about other areas, are they left uncovered while you

concentrate on the Optimal areas? The volume of fewer burglaries we

have to investigate, gives us much more time, and helps us to look at

problem solving in the community, time we didn't have before. Is one

of the problems you are moving the burgalars out of this area and into

other areas? There is no evidence of, that we are waiting for a long-

term reflection on what's happened, but in the short-term we are not

seeing any evidence of displaysment of crime. In these -- Displaysment

of crime. In these os effective times, is this a -- cost effective

times, is this a cheap way of policing? They are very much more

efficient in the way we are using our resources and we are seeing

reductions in the amount of overtime that we are utilising.

Leeds, because of the historic problem with burglaries, another

part of Leeds is trying the scheme where the courts canism pose much

stiffer penalties on -- can impose much stiffer penalties on

burglaries, is this not a better way? It is an excellent idea, but

part of a number of issues helping us reduce burglaries in Leeds, we

are grateful for the support of the judiciary in this matter. It is a

multilayered approach to burglaries. Thank you very much for joining us.

That is the situation here, now back to you.

Just got time to give awe quick update on what is coming in, -- a

quick update on what is coming in calls and e-mails, a police officer

has called in on the distraction theft, potentially vital

information has come in. Someone has phoned in with a potential name

after we showed you CCTV of an attack on the nightclub bouncer,

very good information there. We have lots of calls on the

immobilise.com, we have put a link on there as well as the crime map

on the website. Dave and Nicola, tell me what you are up to

tomorrow? We are going to be heading along the M1 to Wakefield

to see how police are targeting known drug users. We will be at the

West Yorkshire Police's forensic lab, where they deal with

everything from finger printing, DNA technology and e-fits. We will

be donning our white coats to get a close up look at what the forensic

teams get up, -- get up to, don't fail to join us. Sounds good. We

will be back tomorrow, still needing your help to catch those