North Yorkshire to get extra ANPR cameras in a £400,000 bid to protect its borders from travelling criminals

Legendary Harrogate diner set to return as it nears its 50th year in town

The new investment of £429,986 from the Home Office is part of a hi-tech efforts to prevent crime, put off criminals and protect homeowners in more of North Yorkshire’s border communities as part of the Safer Streets Fund.

It will be used to protect individual homes and farms in parts of Selby close to the border with West, South and East Yorkshire, and also includes a focus on using ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras to deter and detect potential burglars.

The areas covered will be Carlton, Camblesforth, Hirst Courtney, Birkin and Hillam with around 1,600 households and 50 farms and small holdings eligible to receive the targeted support already offered to other parts of Selby.

Measures to prevent and protect will include free security advice; upgrades to vulnerable doors, windows, garages and sheds, and monitored alarm systems for farms and small holdings to protect those most at risk.

Additionally, there will be measures to protect these areas, and those across the county, through investment in mobile ANPR cameras to enable North Yorkshire Police to identify potential offenders.

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott said: “Burglary is a crime that has a huge impact on individuals, families and farms which is why this investment in making even more of our streets even safer is so important.

"Our innovative approach, which has already protected hundreds of households in parts of Selby, will now be expanded to more communities at increased risk of criminals crossing borders to commit offences."

Major roads, such as the A19, A1(M) and M62, all provide easy access for criminals crossing county boundaries.

It is thought to be one of the key reasons one in four crimes in parts of Selby are burglaries, compared to one in ten across the rest of North Yorkshire.

Evidence shows the use of cameras which can automatically detect and alert police to suspects travelling into the area can reduce burglaries by as much as 40 per cent.

ANPR will be supported by a major proactive, coordinated and intelligence-led rural borderlands operation from North Yorkshire Police.

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott said: “As an advocate of increased ANPR to protect North Yorkshire’s borders from a minority of people travelling from West Yorkshire to commit criminal acts, I am delighted that the Home Office is supporting my campaign to protect the more challenging areas.

“The use of these cameras is particularly important given the impact they have spotting potential burglars before they can commit an offence.

"This will help protect not just the areas directly being supported by this Safer Streets Fund but more parts of North Yorkshire.

“It will be backed up with an increased focus on borderlands policing in rural communities so that we are doing all we can to keep people safe and feeling safe wherever they are in North Yorkshire.”

'£30 million' is cost of Parliament Street reverting to two-way traffic in Harrogate, says councillor

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.