New police team created in bid to break-up violent crime and drug dealing in Staffordshire

Operation Disrupt will aim to tackle crime and deter criminals by targeting prolific offenders and stopping offenders using major motorways such as the M6 to traffic drugs.

It will see local officers, special constables and specialist staff brought in from across the force to target hotspot's across Stafford, Cannock, South Staffordshire and Lichfield, as well as other areas of the county.

It has been launched today and will see visibly hotspot policing, stop and searches and targeting wanted offenders.

The new team will be directly deployed to the areas that that suffer crime the most, and places to target individuals, in an effort to reduce the amount of violent crime and drug offences.

A Roads Policing unit will also target criminals using the road network to commit and facilitate crime, working alongside the Central Motorway Policing Group and the Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership.

Both the Disruptions team and Roads Policing team have been set up after funding was made available through an increase in council tax across the region.

Superintendent Martin Brereton, the force’s head of neighbourhood policing, said: “Operation Disrupt will be an all-out forcewide crackdown on serious violence and crimes that most affect people across our area.

"People will see highly-visible targeted operations taking place in each neighbourhood, all designed to make the communities of Staffordshire safer and take criminals off the streets.

"We are already doing a lot of work - some of which is not always visible to the public - to disrupt organised crime, but this initiative aims to show the people who live and work in Staffordshire what we are doing proactively to tackle the offences that cause the most concern."

Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire and Rescue and Crime, Matthew Ellis, added: "The public need to see hardcore policing.

"They need to see criminals can’t get away with it and operations like this help deter young people being lured into a world of crime, knives, gangs and violence.

"Feeling safe as they go about their daily business is what people across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are concerned about.

"This on-going action by Staffordshire Police to halt the scourge of violent crime and other crime is exactly what is needed.

"The additional money I asked local people for in tax for policing is making a real difference in disrupting criminality and showing what police do best, which is taking criminals off the streets."

Anyone with information or wishes to speak to police about crime in their area can contact police via 101 or direct message them via their social media channels or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.