In 2019, a sharp spike in burglaries across Liverpool, Lancashire and Manchester became an increasingly urgent headache for detectives across the North West.
A well-organised and professional crew, targeting mainly high-powered vehicles and not afraid to use weapons, had racked up a staggering number of offences - around 160 it later emerged. However, a then relatively recent change in the way Merseyside Police approach burglary meant the crew had met their match.
Almost every single working day, Detective Inspector Tony O'Brien and his team think about burglars. The 30 year policing veteran is the head of Merseyside Police's Operation Castle, a unit dedicated to tackling organised crime gangs or prolific offenders who ransack homes to make money. The unit has been a demonstrable success, with reported burglaries dropping year on year to 55% below where they were when Operation Castle was launched in 2018 and 600 years of jail time handed out to burglars.
