2024: Vehicle crimes continue to fall and SVIU recovered £13.5million worth of stolen vehicles or parts
This year, as part of our dedicated response to vehicle crime, and in particular vehicle theft, Essex Police continues to see a force-wide reduction in these crime figures and an increase in the number of solved cases.
Figures show that in the 12 months to the end of November there has been a 10% fall in all vehicle crimes: that’s 985 less victims of crime compared to the 12-month period ending November 2023.
In the same period, there has been a 3.9% reduction in the reported incidents of theft of vehicles compared with the previous year’s figure: across the county, it equates to 226 fewer cars stolen. Those figures reflect the increasing work done to tackle this issue as just one month earlier, the 12 months to the end of October 2024, showed a 2.7% reduction in theft of motor vehicles recorded.
This work builds on the overall crime reduction data from across the county showing crime continues to fall with nearly 9,500 fewer offences than the previous 12 months, thanks to the hard work of all our officers.
Essex Police Community Choir finish on a high note at farewell concert
The Essex Police Community Choir left the stage to a standing ovation as they said goodbye after 35 years with a final Christmas concert at St Luke’s Church in Tiptree.
The choir performed a medley of festive favourites alongside the Suffolk Constabulary Male Voice Choir in what chairman Tony Willson described as an “epic” send-off.
The Tiptree concert was their 362nd and marked the retirement of musical director Norman Eastbrook MBE. Several choir members were set to follow Norman by stepping away, and with the recruitment of new members proving increasingly difficult, the choir have decided to disband.
Since their formation in 1989, they have raised in the region of £350,000 for good causes and performed concerts in countries as far away as Canada and Poland.
A dozen former members returned to witness their final show, which featured original chairman Bob Hayes, the last remaining founder member still performing.
Tony Willson said it was emotional evening for the choir who were determined to go out on a positive note:
“It was a fabulous night. We had a standing ovation from the audience and there was a feeling at the end of it that we’d done exactly what we’d wanted to do and go out on a high.
Southend: Man charged with causing GBH with intent
A man has been charged in connection with a serious assault in Southend in April.
Officers were called to St Marys Court, on Victoria Avenue in Southend shortly before 4am the morning of 29 April 2024 following reports of a woman sustaining serious injuries.
She was taken to hospital for urgent treatment and has thankfully been discharged since then.
Five people were arrested in the days following the incident, and detectives have continued pursuing several lines of enquiry.
On the evening of Tuesday 24 December Officers stopped a car in Southend and arrested a man in the vehicle for a breach of his bail conditions.
Now, 27-year-old Kallen Maxwell, of Oak Road in Romford, has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent, robbery and possession of a bladed article in a public place.
He appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 26 December and has been released on conditional court bail until his next hearing at Basildon Crown Court on 24 January 2025.
More than 1,000 years in prison for drug dealers in 2024
Officers working day and night to dismantle drug dealing gangs cracked 150 county lines and secured more than 1,000 years in prison sentences for offenders throughout 2024.
The work of our Serious Violence Unit (SVU) has resulted in hundreds of arrests this year, alongside the seizure of large sums of cash and vast quantities of harmful Class A substances.
The SVU hosts our Operation Raptor and Orochi teams. Their sole focus is the disruption of county lines gangs and the safeguarding of those they exploit.
Throughout 2024, the teams secured 447 arrests. Of those arrests, 322 suspects were charged and remanded in prison – a 72% charge rate.
The teams also solved 76% of the cases they pursued.
After painstakingly gathering evidence and pursuing leads, they carried out more than 390 searches and executed 222 warrants at addresses across Essex.
This led to the seizure of around £285,000 in criminal profits and more than 16kg of drugs.
"Every day officers across Essex willingly go towards danger in order to keep the public safe."
A senior Essex Police officer has praised the bravery of officers across the force and spoke of their willingness “to face danger daily” to keep the public safe.
Every week there are around 24 reported assaults on officers in the county, with most incidents faced by our response officers.
Benfleet: Tributes to 'cheeky and kind' woman after collision
The family of a woman who died following a collision in Benfleet have paid tribute to her, saying they miss her “cheeky humour” and above all, her “kindness”.
We were called by colleagues in the ambulance service to London Road, Benfleet, at around 11.30pm on Saturday 7 December following reports of a serious collision.
Enquiries at the scene established a woman had recently disembarked from a coach at a bus stop around 50 metres east of the Kents Hill Road junction, and before Thundersley Park Road junction.
After the coach left the area, the woman proceeded to cross the road when the collision occurred.
Sadly, despite the best efforts of paramedics, the woman died at the scene.
We are now able to name the woman as 85-year-old Yvonne Jones, from Australia.
For full details of upcoming events, please visit the Essex Police website and enter your postcode.
Make your mark
Ownership over property can sometimes be difficult to determine. By marking or registering your valuables, should the worst happen, and your items are stolen, we can help you recover them .
We would recommend marking any item that is of value to you either financially or sentimentally.
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This week we remember
Frederick George ‘Freddie’ Waring
Police Constable Freddie Waring served with Essex County Constabulary from November 6, 1935 and was posted to Brentwood on 21 December 1935, having spent an initial period training at Headquarters. From 14 May 1936 he was stationed at Billericay, before returning to Headquarters. Freddie received a commendation from the Chief Constable for his alertness and attention to duty in arresting two men for stealing bicycles.
He left the police on 2 November 1941 and joined the R.A.F. the following day. He went missing, presumed killed, on Sunday, 31 December 1944 whilst serving as Flying Officer 151138 with 620 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Freddie was aged 30. He has no known grave and is commemorated on panel 209 of the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey.
John Harvey
John Harvey served in the West Riding of Yorkshire before transferring to Essex in 1885. He was posted to Ardleigh on 6 January 1886 and promoted to sergeant there on 1 October 1891. He had a wife and three children, and at the time he died his wife was again pregnant.
On 4 January 1894 John Harvey made some enquiries on his beat, and patrolled for some distance with one of his constables who last saw him at about 7.30pm. The following morning John Harvey’s body was found head first down a well in the snow-covered garden of a cottage in Ardleigh; his watch had stopped at 8.21. There were injuries to the face, but it could not be determined with certainty how they had been caused. It has never been proved whether the Sergeant fell or whether he was pushed.
Leslie Bloom
Leslie Bloom spent all his police service at Colchester, where he qualified as a class one driver and is remembered for his great interest in traffic and road safety. In the early hours of a January morning, Leslie Bloom was riding his motor cycle along Greenstead Road in Colchester on his way to work for an early turn shift, when he hit the back of a parked transit van. He died from his injuries shortly afterwards.
We're offering more ways of reporting non-emergency crime and anti-social behaviour through the digital 101 service on our website.
You can also use the service to contact your local policing team, tell us about something you have seen or heard, or request information.
We also have a 24-hour Live Chat service, where you can send direct messages to a digital 101 operator.
We still have our 24-hour 101 service which people can call if they feel it is more appropriate to speak to us or don't have access to the internet.
Always call 999 if a serious offence is in progress or has just been committed, someone is in immediate danger or harm, property is in danger or being damaged, or a serious disruption to the public is likely.
If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service 18000.
British Sign Language (BSL) users please use our video relay service where an interpreter will help you report the crime to us.
If you're in danger but you can't talk on the phone, you should still call 999, then follow these instructions depending on whether you're calling from a mobile or a landline.
