POLICE officers also made 46 arrests during operation Aldrin, proactive work to disrupt offenders using the road networks to enable them to commit crimes.
From Wednesday, 28 October to Sunday, 1 November, teams were deployed in Central East (Tower Hamlets and Hackney), Central North (Camden and Islington) and Central South (Southwark and Lambeth). They used automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology as well as setting up dedicated stop sites on London Bridge and Clapham Common, where they stopped vehicles of interest.
During the four-day operation, officers were on proactive patrol, looking out for suspicious behaviour and utilised intelligence from vehicles linked to drugs, violence and other criminality.
A total of 73 vehicles were searched resulting in: 46 arrests for offences such as possession with intent to supply class A drugs, possession of an offensive weapon and money laundering, 17 individuals referred to DIVERT – an intervention programme aimed to reduce re-offending, 16 drug seizures; and five weapons taken off the streets.