Operation Bumblebee (UK)

Last updated

Operation Bumblebee is an anti-burglary campaign undertaken by London's Metropolitan Police, which aims to crack down on burglary in the capital and raise the public's awareness of measures they can take to protect their homes.

Operation Bumblebee was first introduced to north London in 1991. It was the creation of now retired Detective Chief Superintendent William Peters and was rolled out across the rest of the capital in June 1993. Police would gather intelligence on past offenders through a network of informants and surveillance systems, and carry out dawn raids on the homes of suspects. [1] Another aspect of the operation was the roadshows held regularly throughout London, at which millions of pounds' worth of recovered stolen goods would be put on display, allowing victims of theft to identify and claim their belongings. [2] [3]

In October 2009, Operation Bumblebee was revived, following a sharp increase in residential burglaries. Eighty officers were assigned to specialist anti-burglary squads, and a media campaign urged Londoners to "think like a burglar". [4] In 2013, police involved in Operation Bumblebee began to make use of computer-generated crime maps, to predict where crimes were most likely to reoccur. [5]

Related Research Articles

Watergate scandal Political scandal that occurred in the United States of America in the 1970s

The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual attempts to cover up its involvement in the June 17, 1972, break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C. Watergate Office Building. After the five perpetrators were arrested, the press and the U.S. Justice Department connected the cash found on them at the time to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President. Further investigations, along with revelations during subsequent trials of the burglars, led the U.S. House of Representatives to grant the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary additional investigation authority to probe into "certain matters within its jurisdiction", and the U.S. Senate to create the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee. The resulting Senate Watergate hearings were broadcast "gavel-to-gavel" nationwide by PBS and aroused public interest. Witnesses testified that Nixon had approved plans to cover up administration involvement in the break-in, and that there was a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office. Throughout the investigation, the administration resisted its probes, which led to a constitutional crisis.

Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder, but most jurisdictions include others within the ambit of burglary. To commit burglary is to burgle, a term back-formed from the word burglar, or to burglarize.

Metropolitan Police English territorial police force

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police, is the territorial police force responsible for the prevention of crime and law enforcement in Greater London. In addition, the Met Police is also responsible for some specialised matters throughout the United Kingdom; these responsibilities include co-ordinating and leading national counter-terrorism measures and the personal safety of specific individuals, such as the Monarch and other members of the Royal Family, members of the Government, and other officials.

Murder of Stephen Lawrence 1993 killing in London

Stephen Lawrence was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham on the evening of 22 April 1993, when he was 18 years old. The case became a cause célèbre: its fallout included cultural changes of attitudes on racism and the police, and to the law and police practice. It also led to the partial revocation of the rule against double jeopardy. Two of the perpetrators were convicted of murder on 3 January 2012.

A home invasion, also called a hot prowl burglary, is a sub-type of burglary in which an offender unlawfully enters into a building residence while the occupants are inside. The overarching intent of a hot prowl burglary can be theft, robbery, assault, sexual assault, murder, kidnapping, or another crime, either by stealth or direct force. Hot prowl burglaries are considered especially dangerous by law enforcement because of the potential for a violent confrontation between the occupant and the offender.

Sadiq Khan British politician, current Mayor of London

Sadiq Aman Khan is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He previously was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's soft left and has been ideologically characterised as a social democrat.

"Homer the Vigilante" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 6, 1994. In the episode, a crime wave caused by an elusive cat burglar plagues Springfield. Lisa is distraught when her saxophone is stolen, and Homer promises to get it back. The police are ineffective, so Homer takes charge of a neighborhood watch. Under his leadership, it becomes a vigilante group which fails to catch the burglar. With the help of Grampa, Homer discovers that the burglar is a charming senior named Molloy. Molloy is arrested, but he outwits the citizens of Springfield and escapes.

Anti-abortion violence is violence committed against individuals and organizations that perform abortions or provide abortion counseling. Incidents of violence have included destruction of property, including vandalism; crimes against people, including kidnapping, stalking, assault, attempted murder, and murder; and crimes affecting both people and property, including arson and terrorism, such as bombings.

Cressida Dick Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London (born 1960)

Dame Cressida Rose Dick is a British senior police officer who served as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2017 to 2022. She is both the first female and first openly homosexual officer to lead the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), or the Met, in London.

Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI Leftist activist group operational in the US during the early 1970s

The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI was an activist group operational in the US during the early 1970s. Their only known action was breaking into a two-man Media, Pennsylvania, office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and stealing over 1,000 classified documents. They then mailed these documents anonymously to several US newspapers to expose numerous illegal FBI operations which were infringing on the First Amendment rights of American civilians. Most news outlets initially refused to publish the information, saying it related to ongoing operations and that disclosure might have threatened the lives of agents or informants. However, The Washington Post, after affirming the veracity of the files which the Commission sent them, ran a front-page story on March 24, 1971, at which point other media organizations followed suit.

Delroy Easton Grant is a Jamaican-born British convicted serial rapist who carried out a series of offences of burglary, rape and sexual assault dating between October 1992 and May 2009 in the South East London area of England. Grant, also known as the Minstead Rapist and latterly the Night Stalker, is thought to have been active since 1990, and has a distinctive modus operandi, preying on elderly women who live alone. He is suspected of over 100 offences from 1990 to 2009.

SmartWater Forensic asset marking system

SmartWater is a traceable liquid and forensic asset marking system (taggant) that is applied to items of value to identify thieves and deter theft. The liquid leaves a long lasting and unique identifier, whose presence is invisible except under an ultraviolet black light.

Shomrim or Shmira are organizations of proactive volunteer Jewish civilian patrols which have been set up in Haredi communities in neighborhoods across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to combat burglary, vandalism, mugging, assault, domestic violence, nuisance crimes and antisemitic attacks, and to help and support victims of crime. They also help locate missing people.

Prior to 1994, immigrants from elsewhere faced discrimination and even violence in South Africa. After majority rule in 1994, contrary to expectations, the incidence of xenophobia increased. Between 2000 and March 2008, at least 67 people died in what were identified as xenophobic attacks. In May 2008, a series of attacks left 62 people dead; although 21 of those killed were South African citizens. The attacks were motivated by xenophobia. In 2015, another nationwide spike in xenophobic attacks against immigrants in general prompted a number of foreign governments to begin repatriating their citizens. A Pew Research poll conducted in 2018 showed that 62% of South Africans viewed immigrants as a burden on society by taking jobs and social benefits and that 61% of South Africans thought that immigrants were more responsible for crime than other groups. Between 2010 and 2017 the immigrant community in South Africa increased from 2 million people to 4 million people. The proportion of South Africa's total population that is foreign born increased from 2.8% in 2005 to 7% in 2019, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration, in spite of widespread xenophobia in the country. This made South Africa the largest recipient of immigrants on the African continent in 2019.

The history of the Metropolitan Police in London is long and complex, with many different events taking place between its inception in 1829 to the present day.

Crime in London Overview of crime in London, England

Figures on crime in London are based primarily on two sets of statistics: the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime data. Greater London is generally served by three police forces; the Metropolitan Police which is responsible for policing the vast majority of the capital, the City of London Police which is responsible for The Square Mile of the City of London, and the British Transport Police which polices the national rail network and the London Underground. A fourth police force in London, the Ministry of Defence Police, do not generally become involved with policing the general public. London also has a number of small constabularies for policing parks. Within the Home Office crime statistic publications Greater London is referred to as the London Region.

The Bling Ring are a group of convicted thieves consisting of seven teenagers and young adults based in and around Calabasas, California. They broke into the homes of several celebrities over a period believed to have been between October 2008 through August 2009. Their activities resulted in the theft of about $3 million in cash and belongings. Much of the stolen property belonged to Paris Hilton, whose house was broken into several times, though over fifty homes were reportedly targeted.

Glove prints

Glove prints, also sometimes described as gloveprints or glove marks, are latent, fingerprint-like impressions that are transferred to a surface or object by an individual who is wearing gloves.

Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary 2015 theft from an underground vault in Holborn, London

The Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary occurred in April 2015, when an underground safe deposit facility in Hatton Garden, London, owned by Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd., was burgled. According to official sources, the total stolen had an estimated value of up to £14 million, of which only £4.3 million has been recovered. The heist was planned and carried out by six elderly men who were experienced thieves, all of whom were arrested, pleaded guilty and received prison sentences in March 2016. Four other men were also tried on suspicion of involvement; three were found guilty and sent to prison, while the fourth was cleared.

Theresa Mays tenure as Home Secretary

Former British Prime Minister Theresa May served as Home Secretary from 2010 until 2016. As a member of David Cameron's first government May was appointed as Home Secretary on 12 May 2010, shortly after Cameron became prime minister, and continued in the post as part of the Cameron's second government following the 2015 general election. She held the post until she succeeded Cameron as Prime Minister on 13 July 2016.

References

  1. Williams, Rhys (11 November 1993). "Police offensive against capital's burglars nets 453 suspects" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022.
  2. Bassett, Tony (29 July 1994). "Met shows off Bumblebee success" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022.
  3. "I was violated when burglars struck, says Charles". The Birmingham Post. 27 February 1999.
  4. "Drive to stem burglaries revived". BBC News. 19 October 2009.
  5. Tolhurst, Alain (17 October 2009). "Police launch Operation Bumblebee to tackle burglaries as winter arrives". London24. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.