From catching burglars, robbers and thieves to targeting organised crime groups, our Criminal Investigation Department (CID) teams are the ones stopping those who cause significant harm to our communities in their tracks.
As these are also the offenders that we’re targeting as part of our ongoing work for Operation Galaxy, unsurprisingly, our CID teams are playing a key role.
Made of up highly trained detectives, Investigating Officers and Police Constables, each area of the force has its own dedicated team who use their local knowledge and expertise to help keep you safe.
Detective Inspector Tom Kelly (pictured right) is one of these officers, overseeing the work of CID in North East Lincolnshire.
He took time out from his busy schedule to tell us more about life on the front line and how Operation Galaxy is making a difference:
 
We’ve all heard of CID – tell us more about the crimes you deal with:
In CID we deal with some of the most serious crimes, things that really have an impact on victims and the wider community.
This includes everything from acquisitive crime, such as burglary and robbery to firearms offences, domestic abuse, drugs offences and arson – all of which are key areas we’re targeting under Op Galaxy.
The reason we focus on these kind of offences is that can have a huge effect on someone’s sense of safety and wellbeing, so it’s really important to us to do everything feasible to make them feel secure.
 
How do you do that?
 Of course we want to catch the person responsible and put them before the courts – that goes without saying – but there’s more to it than that.
We care about what’s happened to people who are victims of crime and we understand the effect it’s had on them.
Our colleagues in the Force Control Room, Community Safety Unit and Neighbourhood Policing Teams are great at providing help and support, as well as offering tips and advice on home security and crime prevention.
Our role is the investigation and this can take a number of different forms, depending on the circumstances of the offence.
 
Tell us more:
An investigation starts from the moment you report a crime to us.
If you’re calling as it’s happening and the offenders are still there, we’ll try to get officers on their way to you as quickly as possible.
When you’ve come back to find something has happened then we need to handle things differently.
We start by getting as much information as we can over the phone to help us decide what we need to do next and this can take some time.
As we’re taking your initial statement, we will ask you questions to find out about any investigative opportunities there might be and use this to put together an investigation plan.
This might mean us coming out to the scene of the crime and gathering forensic evidence but that’s not always necessary.
But if we don’t come that doesn’t mean nothing is being done. There’s lots of work that goes on behind the scenes.
 
Like what?
There are lots of teams that form CID and they all different roles to play.
Officers from the Crime Management Unit will start looking at things like the availability of CCTV straight away and suggesting potential lines of enquiry we could make.
This could be forensics. For example, if the offender has dropped something that you know isn’t yours and no one has touched it, or there’s blood on broken glass, it could be really useful for our Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) team to come out and gather evidence.
With offences like burglary, a small number of people are usually responsible for the majority of the incidents reported to us and forensics can help us link offenders to crimes.
That’s not always possible though. For example, exposure to the elements or things that have been touched by lots of different people can make finding any relevant evidence very difficult.
What’s important to remember is that CSI is only one of a whole raft of investigation tools we have available to us.
We also consider things like whether it’s likely anyone will have seen or heard anything, looking at how remote the location of the offence is and other factors such as the time of day.
If we think it’s likely someone will have been in the area, we can appeal for witnesses to come forward using our social media and websites, My Community Alert or the local press.
However, sometimes these opportunities just aren’t there and that’s as frustrating for us as is it for you – we get into policing because we don’t want criminals operating in our area.
But even when this is the case it’s not a case of “here’s a crime number and that’s the end of it.”
 
What do you do then?
We store details of every offence that’s reported to us and that information is used by our intelligence officers and analysts to find patterns that can help us pinpoint who is responsible.
Our CID teams regularly look at this data as part of our ongoing investigations and it may be that a more recent crime can give us the information we need to find out who was responsible for offences that have happened before.
Almost every burglary is also discussed at our morning briefings, which are attended by representatives of all our force teams.
Again, this helps us to see the bigger picture and we can use this to inform our crime prevention work, targeting patrols into vulnerable areas and working with you to offer advice on improving your home security or highlighting scams.
Doing this detective work, piecing together the evidence we have and being able to get justice for victims is the best part of the job.
The things we deal with generally have a significant impact on victims, so being able to offer them a sense of justice in prosecuting offenders and seeing them get custodial sentences for the hard work we do is really satisfying.
It’s also great when we can return stolen property to victims – especially if it has sentimental value.
I know my colleagues over in Hull have recovered a number of stolen motorbikes and other property as part of Op Galaxy, which they have been able to link back to previous burglaries and we hope to do the same with any stolen property we recover in this area.

 
Where can I find out more?
If you want more information on crime prevention and the latest information about what’s happening in your area, visit our website, follow our force Twitter and Facebook accounts @Humberbeat.
If you have more questions about how we deal with burglaries and thefts, reply to this message and let us know.
Although we won’t be able to discuss specific cases, we will post another update from our CID teams answering as many as we can on Thursday, 25 June.

Over 200 Op Galaxy arrests


Officers from across our Neighbourhood teams, Major Crime, Patrol, CID, Roads Policing, Special Ops and many more are coming together day in day out to tackle issues and individuals you say are causing the most harm.

Since 5pm yesterday, 28 people have been arrested for a number of offences from robbery to possession with intent to supply drugs, sexual assault to grievous bodily harm. That takes the total arrested in eleven days of intensive action to 212. Within that activity, we’ve executed 44 warrants across the force area, 27 people have been charged and 114 have been bailed or released under investigation.

In the last 24 hours, we’ve also conducted 14 proactive stop and searches in areas such as Beverley, Bridlington and Hull, and our local teams have continued to complete checks on those with domestic violence protection orders to ensure the safety of those most vulnerable. Some of the hotspot areas across the force we’ve patrolled in the last day include Longhill, Orchard Park and Boothferry Road Goole, East Marsh and Scunthorpe, aiming to deter criminal activity from regularly reported areas.

Chief Superintendent Darren Downs said: “The continued success of Operation Galaxy is only possible with the information we receive from the community.

“Our neighbourhood teams are out and about everyday gathering information from the people of their areas, which is then passed onto our wider Op Galaxy officers to decide on what action to take, whether that’s obtaining a warrant, focussing high visibility patrols in a certain area or engaging with partner agencies.

“Any action we do take is then followed up with the community to ensure they know we are taking action in their area to make them feel safer.

“We have arrested 212 people in total now, which couldn’t have been done without our communities support and intelligence.  We have made growing progress that Humberside is feeling a really difficult place to commit criminal offences, we will catch and convict any offenders quickly.

“If you have identified a particular issue in your area, I would encourage you to tell us about it. The action we’ve taken so far is based on what you’re telling us and we will continue to act to ensure that our communities are protected from those that intend to cause them harm.”

Just some of what we’ve been up to in the last 24 hours…
Following a successful warrant on the Great Thornton Estate this morning by the Hull Centre Neighbourhood team as part of Op Galaxy, a 51-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs. A large quantity of psychoactive substance and Amphetamine (class B) were seized along with crack cocaine (Class A). 


Following a robbery at a property on Whitethorn Avenue, Withernsea yesterday, Thursday 4 June, in which a woman was reportedly threatened with a screwdriver and had her bank card stolen, which was later used fraudulently to withdraw £200, a 22-year-old woman has been arrested and remains in our custody.
 
A vehicle stop by our Roads Policing Team between junction 36 and 37 (Goole and Ouse Bridge) on the M62 Westbound resulted in the recovery and seizure of a large quantity of suspected Class A drugs. A 56-year-old man from Manchester was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and remains in our detention.
 
A warrant was executed at a property on Ramsden Avenue, Barton-Upon-Humber this morning which resulted in the arrest of a 37-year-old local man for possession of cannabis. One hundred and fifty cannabis plants and a bike was also found at the property, and we are asking that if the bike belongs to you, or you know whose it is, to call our non-emergency number 101, quoting crime reference number 16/59975/20.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of a robbery reported to us on 30 May in East Park, Hull.
 
A 41-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a residence, following a report that a brick was thrown through the window of a property on Schofield Avenue, Beverley in the early hours of Tuesday 2 June. The man, also from Beverley, is in custody. A woman was already arrested in this case on 2 June and released on police bail pending further enquiries.
 
Following an alleged assault on a man, which took place at a property on Redbourne Road, Grimsby, a 46-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of assault causing grievous bodily harm.
 
We have arrested an outstanding 18-year-old local man following a burglary attempt at a property on Sanctuary Way, Grimsby on 16 April. He is in our custody as enquiries continue.
Op Galaxy will continue throughout the weekend and into its third week next week. To keep up with what’s going on, sign up to My Community Alert or follow our @humberbeat social media channels.


Visit our website for crime prevention advice & follow us on  

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A week has now passed of the intensified Operation Galaxy action taking place across the Humberside Police area. So far, we’ve arrested 161 people; 44 of those from warrants, eight on failure to appear in court warrants, six on prison recall and 103 outstanding suspects which have been identified for a number of offences, including supplying drugs, committing burglaries or causing harm to others.

As well as executing warrants and catching outstanding suspects, we have also been conducting targeted patrols in areas where we’ve seen concentrations of burglaries, anti-social behaviour or organised crime activity, to deter criminals away and keep those that live there safe. These include areas such as Orchard Park in relation to the ongoing Op Yellowfin, Beverley Town Centre for anti-social behaviour and rural Scunthorpe for animal thefts.

The officers undertaking high-visibility patrols are on the lookout for nuisance motor vehicles, drug dealing and disorderly behaviour, taking back control of hot spot areas from criminals and showing them they can’t continue their operations.

We’ve also been proactively stopping and searching people since last Tuesday, with a total 130 across the force area, 26 of those resulting in positive action taken or new lines of enquiry for further activity.

We’re committed to protecting our most vulnerable people, which is why we’re checking on those with domestic violence protection orders, three of which we visited last night.

Op Galaxy action is 24 hours a day, seven days a week and remains focussed on catching offenders that are causing the communities the most harm and acting on information you feed to us about the issues that matter the most to you.
 
Highlights from the last 24 hours:

Following a warrant at a property on Beverley Road, Hull, a 40-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of human trafficking. On searching the property, 800 wraps of suspected ‘spice’ with a street value of approximately £3,000 were found and seized. The man was further arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply drugs.

A 46-year-old man is in our custody for possession with intent to supply drugs following a warrant, which was executed at a property on Ancourt, Hull this morning.

After sending one of our specially trained police dogs into a property on Haven Avenue, Grimsby this morning, £650 cash as well as multiple mobile phones were found and seized. A 19-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of money laundering.

We acted on previous reports and arrested a 15-year-old boy for sexual offences in Hull, a 32-year-old woman from Hull on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and a 30-year-old woman for sexual offences in Hull. All remain in custody.

Two adult men, a teenage girl and a teenage boy were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply drugs at a property on Exmouth Street, Hull this afternoon.

A Bridlington man was arrested for prison recall.

If you wish to report something of concern to us, please make sure to speak to our local officers who patrol and door knock around your streets throughout the day, or you can call our non-emergency number 101. For those wishing to remain anonymous, independent charity, Crimestoppers, can be contacted on 0800 555 111.
 
To keep up with all things Operation Galaxy, you can also follow our @HumberBeat social media channels.
 
Visit our website for crime prevention advice & follow us on  

Links and attachments: Humberside Police will only ever link you to secure web-sites we trust. We will only send you attachments where we believe it is absolutely necessary.

Local News Update

The last few months have undoubtedly been some of the most challenging times for everyone across the Humberside force area, with the restrictions changing daily life as we once knew it.
For us, as your police force, it’s been a time to change and adapt, understanding and responding to new demands linked to the restrictions, whilst still managing existing crimes and investigations.

We have also seen a significant reduction in overall crime and as restrictions lift and people start to return to some type of new normality, we plan to ensure that those who commit crime do not easily return to their day jobs in our region.

“To this end, we intend to shift our focus from patrols and engaging with those moving about under Covid-19 restrictions to ensuring the Humberside area is a hostile and difficult place for criminals to operate in as the restrictions begin to ease”

Humberside Police Chief Constable, Lee Freeman, explains:

“Starting from today, until the end of June, we will be unrelenting in our pursuit of targeting those who bring misery and distress to our communities through our proactive task force – Operation Galaxy.

“We launched Operation Galaxy in October last year and the team have continued to operate throughout the developing situation we have found ourselves in, executing warrants, making arrests and protecting the most vulnerable people in our society.

“For this intensive period of enhanced action across the entire Humberside Force area, the team have been expanded, with much more resource available and dedicated teams from across the whole force deployed to the operation, to tackle a wide array of criminality and ensure we keep the public safe and protect our communities.”

The remit of the team is much broader with specific areas of crime that will be focussed on including burglary, robbery and theft, often referred to as “Serious Acquisitive Crime”, protecting vulnerable people by targeting sexual offenders and perpetrators of domestic abuse and disrupting and dismantling Organised Crime Groups linked to drugs supply and county lines.

The resources across the force who will be involved include, but are not limited to, CID teams, Patrol, NPTs, PVP, Roads Policing, police dogs, firearms, Marine Unit, Major Crime, intelligence and Economic crime units.

CC Freeman continued: “Throughout the lockdown we’ve listened to our communities and carried out numerous operations to make an impact on crime, through arresting outstanding suspects for the abhorrent crime of possession of indecent images of children, dismantling organised crime groups for the supply of drugs, to tackling antisocial behaviour and motorbike offences through Operation Yellowfin and bringing offenders to justice for domestic abuse incidents.

“With an increase in officer numbers over the past three years, we now have 500 more officers, enabling us to carry out more of this work, and with the expanded Operation Galaxy team and the month of intensive action, we have the opportunity to make even more of an impact on crime so we are able to protect our communities and the most vulnerable.

“Officers from your local Neighbourhood Policing Team will be in your community, speaking to you and explaining what actions are being taken in your area, to keep you informed and reassured as to any police presence throughout the five weeks and to talk through any concerns you have. This engagement will always be carried out safely and whilst practising social distancing measures. 

“After the five weeks of intensive action, it doesn’t just end there. This is a change in our approach to reflect that we now have nearly 500 additional officers in the force than in 2017. “

“We are a force on the front foot determined and committed to tackling criminality across the Humberside force area, to ensure you feel safe and protected, and that, as always will be our main priority.”


Visit our website for crime prevention advice

Links and attachments: Humberside Police will only ever link you to secure web-sites we trust. We will only send you attachments where we believe it is absolutely necessary.