Result!

9 March 2012

85 arrested in Bristol for Operation Relentless

Added: 8/03/2012

On Wednesday (7 March) Police in Bristol arrested 85 people in just one day as part of a force-wide day of action to target criminals.

Inspector Chris Regan said: "Operation Relentless was a real success in Bristol with criminals arrested across the city for various offences ranging from theft and burglary to violent crime. We also carried out 10 raids on suspected drug dealers through out the day. The results of the day send a clear message that crime will not be tolerated in Bristol. We will be relentless in tracking criminals down and bringing them before the courts."

The day began at 5am with arrest attempts on 100 wanted criminals across the city. From 7.30am specialist policing teams began targeting the city's drug dealers and the second-hand goods market with a series of warrants. Activity continued into the day with activity including a high tech Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) operation on main arterial routes into and out of the city designed to disrupt criminals using the roads.

Highlights of the day included:

• 10 drug dealers arrested and £3,700 of cash seized along with a variety of illegal drugs including cannabis and cocaine
• A raid on a property where the owner was heavily involved in handling stolen goods. A whole police van was filled with recovered items which included 20 sat navs, numerous laptops and a number of push bikes worth thousands of pounds
• An officer on patrol spotted and, after a struggle, arrested one of Bristol's most illusive thieves who was wanted for a total of seven crimes

Police ran a live news feed between 8.30am and 8pm to give an insight into what goes on behind the scenes to keep people living in Avon and Somerset safe. To view the feed visit www.avonandsomerset.police.uk or view on Twitter #oprelentless

During the past seven years Operation Relentless has been responsible for the arrest of more than 2100 criminals. Since it was launched in 2005 there have been more than 30 themed events – single days of enforcement action, bolstered by three month long high profile "keeping you safe" events.