A LARGE-SCALE police operation brought 170 officers from six forces on to Essex’s roads with the aim of catching crooks on the move.

Officers from Essex, Kent, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertfordshire Cambridgshire and Bedford-shire manned checkpoints on main roads across the county yesterday during Operation Utah.

Four people were arrested and 28 vehicles seized countywide during the operation.

Three people were detained at Lakeside, two in connection with thefts in Southend, and one for perjury.

A fourth man, who was wanted for breach of his bail, was caught in Chigwell.

The 28 cars were seized because their drivers had no insurance or no driving licence.

A total of 87 fixed penalty notices were also issued for a range of offences – including one to a driving instructor caught using a mobile phone at the wheel in Colchester.

Twelve people were reported for prosecution in connection with more serious motoring offences, ten were ordered off the road until vehicle defects were fixed, 16 vehicle defect notices were issued, 30 people were stopped for number plate irregularities and 72 breath tests were carried out. No one was caught drink-driving.

Twenty known offenders were also stopped and checked by the police.

Insp Gerry Parker, who was in charge, said: “The aim was to find and prosecute offenders on the move on Essex roads.

“We chose Lakeside, Colchester, Chigwell and Harlow because they are close to areas and main roads where we saw were increases in offences this time last year.

“Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology is superb for this. We can store information on a database and then be alerted when cameras identify a suspect vehicle on the move.

“We can also tell if drivers don’t have licences, MoT certificates or insurance.

“We use ANPR technology 24 hours a day, every day, but working with the other six forces means each county can have Operation Utahs where a lot of resources are concentrated in one police area.”