A MAJOR police operation to tackle joyriding – following a 25% increase in reported cases last year – has stepped down to a ‘business as usual’ activity, after almost 700 vehicles were found to be unlocked and six youths prosecuted for taking cars without permission.
‘Operation Handle’ is still ongoing but the ‘proactive’ part of the police initiative – which had 60 officers assigned to it with four extra staff working each night in February and March – has now ended, marking the winding down of a significant focus for the service.
The operation was in response to a growing problem in Jersey – however, the police are now confident that those primarily responsible have faced justice or are going through the system.
Earlier this month, Magistrate Bridget Shaw warned that “someone will be seriously hurt or killed” when sentencing two teen joyriders in the Youth Court – ordering both to complete community service and banning them from driving.
In January, Police Chief Robin Smith told the JEP that children as young as 12 were being put in danger by a trend that was sweeping Jersey.
However, the police are now confident that Operation Handle, which began on 24 February, has achieved most of its aims. 60 dedicated police officers worked on it, drawn from across the service, with four additional officers per night focusing on the anti-joyriding effort.
Inspector Dave Turnbull, who is head of Community Policing, said: “When we look at starting an operation like this, we will always look at what our main objectives are, and once we feel that those objectives are met, we will conclude either the entire operation or elements of it.
“At the beginning of Operation Handle, our main objectives were to reduce repeat vehicle thefts and larceny or thefts from vehicles; identify and disrupt repeat offenders using intelligence and information that we already knew; reduce repeat demand in those targeted locations where we were seeing the majority of the crimes committed; increase visible and covert patrols; and then strengthen community engagement and the crime prevention message.
“For us, the first four of those objectives have been met so we are now focused on crime prevention, which is part of our normal community business.”
During the main phase of Operation Handle, patrolling police officers found 672 vehicles unlocked in 17 target locations and of those 43 had the keys inside or were easily accessible. Ten spot checks were carried out and 200 leaflets delivered.
Of the six youths to be charged and prosecuted, who were all known to the police, one was sent to youth detention for six months and the rest received community service, probation and/or binding over orders, as well as driving bans.
Insp Turnbull added: “Since 4 March, the police have not had any reported Taking and Driving Away cases [the official name for ‘joyriding’] or theft from vehicles involving that core group, which is a fantastic success, and that is on the back of the successful prosecutions.
“It is important to say that it is not our intention to criminalise young people but there needs to be consequences to these actions. The most important thing for me now is to get the wider message across that leaving vehicles unlocked – and leaving keys and valuables inside – enable these crimes to take place in the first place. So, if you remove that easy-to-act-on part, you are not going to have the crime.”
Insp Turnbull said that officers would be at the weekend’s Boat Show to spread this message at the three-day event.
He added that, during the ‘proactive’ part of the operation, the police had only removed one or two sets of keys that officers found in or around vehicles. Most, he said, had involved officers letting the registered owners know and asking them to come to their vehicles to lock them and take the keys home.
