Inside Birmingham's car crime hotspot where children break into cars for 'anything they can get'

Yahoo

4 days ago

Children in the midst of their summer holiday hold their parents hands as they skip their way to the park.
Here inside the back of a police car with officers on a new crackdown, it's a different world.
We hear of zombie knives taken off the streets, crime cars fleeing through busy streets and children as young as 14 breaking into cars for 'anything they can get'.
This is the reality for officers on Operation Skybridge, a proactive crime team working '24/7' in Small Heath after a surge in robberies, burglaries and vehicle crime.
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The team were deployed amid community fears in the 'hotspot' area. We joined them for four hours for a behind-the-scenes look at their work this week.
As we head out, PC Stevens and PC Wilkes are constantly on the look out and checking out any vehicles flagged by the area's ANPR cameras.
After a briefing at the station, they're wary of certain suspects in particular cars, along with the hotspot areas such as St Andrew's Park, St Andrews retail park and McDonald's.
Delivery drivers have been increasingly targeted, Nissan Jukes are the 'flavour of the month' for criminals and 'adapted Gameboys' are now being used as signal blockers, it was warned ahead of the shift.
In one of several stops, we check a car park next to Birmingham Youth Academy where kids keenly wave at the passing police car.
"We had a young child on this car park looking into people's boots, and we then saw him up the road doing the same thing," explained PC Stevens.
"We had a tip off of young kids targeting the car park on push bikes." A week before the officers were deployed, a woman's handbag was snatched as her car was broken into. Her passport, cards and cash went with it.
Their method? It varies depending on the area, officers explain. "In Edgbaston where we were deployed last, it was more of a 'smash and grab.'"
Children would cycle up to the car, ditch their bikes nearby in a bush before heading back to the car to "confirm if there was anything they wanted to steal."
"They would then bring the bike back to the car so they could get off quickly," PC Wilkes added. Criminals, and those using drugs too, have only become younger over the years, the officers said.
We're told communities have been pleased to see officers, along with their marked cars, patrolling the area and stopping suspicious vehicles. Astonishingly, since being deployed officers say there have been no burglaries or robberies - their mere presence acting as a deterrent for criminals.
We pass the notorious Camelot Way - a street that's become synonymous with dumped rubbish and abandoned cars. With burnt-out cars, vehicle shells and heaps of fly-tipping, the road is a prime example of 'broken window theory', say officers.
At one stage, we're told we'll need to 'stay back' as a car may have weapons on board. Knives aren't uncommon for the officers to come across, even though their focus here is acquisitive crime like burglary and robbery.
During the daytime shift, we rush on blue lights down Coventry Road - one of the 'hotspot' streets for crime. There, Op Skybridge officers have arrested a man carrying a lock knife after suspicions were raised over a possible drug deal.
The man has since been charged. Recalling a separate, but recent incident also on Coventry Road, PC Stevens told us: "We stopped a driver and there was a hammer in the central console, they ran and were seen on CCTV stuffing things down the front of their trousers.
"We did a search and found zombie knives, loads of class A drugs - it all happened really quickly."
But the team have also found men carrying knives on the smaller roads too, and those near parks where children play.
PC Stevens added: "We had this young man near to a park, and before the search we say 'do you have any drugs, weapons or anything sharp on you?'
"He said 'no I haven't got any weapons, but I have a knife. It's only a kitchen knife, my friend text me while I was cooking dinner.'"
PC Wilkes went on: "It was long, it was a large and he had it down his tracksuit leg. We've had to tackle him. I said to him 'if it goes in you, you will be going to hospital, and if it goes in us you will be going to jail.'"
The team become aware of a car linked to robbery driving around with four men inside as they patrol, with PC Wilkes suggesting they may be "looking to rob somebody". They prepare to pursue the car, alongside other officers from their team, but it is soon abandoned due to a lack of 'tactical resources'.
Their shift, officers say, was unusually quiet, however PC Wilkes adds: "What we have found is as a by-product of this job, that any criminals are deterred, there is a natural decrease from seeing the police cars on blue lights."
Op Skybridge, established six months ago, have been stationed in five other places before moving to Small Heath - with more than 100 arrests for almost 250 crimes and over £200,000 seized across the areas.
Speaking alongside officers in Small Heath this week, Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster said: 'Operation Skybridge represents precisely the type of proactive, effective and visible policing that both I and the people of the West Midlands, want to see across our region.
'It aligns fully with my Police and Crime Plan, to prevent and tackle neighbourhood crime, protect people and bring offenders to justice, who cause harm in our communities. I'm pleased to see first-hand, the tireless dedication of our officers, in bringing offenders to justice and making our streets safer.'