Those detained were arrested on suspicion of theft, money laundering, handling stolen goods, drugs, conspiracy to commit burglary, impersonating a police officer, drugs of metal theft, breach of bail and going equipped to steal.

The force linked up with Greater Manchester, North and South Yorkshire and Humberside police to disrupt burglars, concentrating on those raiding homes to steal cars and other criminals in the cross-border areas of Leeds, Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale.

Operation Overton 2 used the latest in-car Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera systems, static ANPR cameras, the recently-launched seven-car West Yorkshire ANPR Intercept Team and the Regional Roads Policing Group.

In addition, target areas were flooded with large numbers of regular and community support police and the Operations Support Unit, mounted officers, dog handlers and the force helicopter.

The purge was driven by intelligence about those involved in burglaries and selling stolen goods. Patrols were stepped-up in problem districts in Leeds including the student areas of Headingley, Woodhouse, Burley and Hyde Park.

YEP Crime Reporter Bruce Smith joined a night patrol with a West Yorkshire Police ANPR intercept team

PCs Paul Feather and Ian Robinson's D5 2.4-litre Volvo has every possible technical aid you could imagine.

They include front and rear ANPR cameras, in-car computers linked to databases on vehicle records, car insurance records and crime suspects, video cameras, vehicle tracker and satellite navigation systems and all-round floodlighting.

Anyone or anything – not just vehicles – looking suspicious is checked.
Soon after our shift begins we are in pursuit of two apparently illegal riders of a scooter with L plates in Kent Road, Pudsey. The pair use bollard-blocked side streets to escape.

Just 20 minutes after and three miles away in Otley Road, Headingley, computer checks on a silver BMW with its driver caught using a mobile phone, reveal past sightings of occupants passing mysterious packages.

Blue lights flash and the car is stopped. The Lithuanian driver – a student – appears clean, but will be summonsed for the phone offence and required to produce driving documents later. His fingerprints and a car video snap are taken in case he disputes the offence.

The driver of an old van who turns away suspiciously from the patrol crew when they pass is also checked. The van appears in good order, and though no offence is apparent, its driver has several previous criminal convictions. He is given a form to produce documents.
Later an alert about a Mini stolen in a burglary in Bramhope is flashed to our crew.
At midnight the driver of a Ford Focus is stopped in Monkbridge Road, Headingley. He claims to be a West Yorkshire Playhouse actor but does not escape a £60 fine for an eight-month expired MOT.

Minutes later the police radio issues details of a Honda Civic being driven without insurance, linked to a man carrying a knife and possibly involved in drug dealing.

Three minutes later a young driver stopped on zigzag lines on North Lane is warned a repeat offence will mean a £60 fine.

A check on the occupants of a Liverpool-registered Honda on Broadway establish they were visiting a relative.

Next we make a high-speed response to reports of an Audi A4 reportedly doing 120mph on the ring road near Dawson's Corner, Pudsey, but it is quickly found by another patrol.

Within minutes the radio alerts us to a silver Toyota Corolla carrying five people and smelling so strongly of cannabis it is detected by the crew of another patrol car travelling behind.

The car is stopped on Stanningley Road, Armley, and four men and one woman and their car are carefully searched. Despite the stench no drugs are found.

Later a 3am spot check on a Land Rover in Broadstone Way, Holmewood, Bradford, finds the passenger is a 20-year-old man out on bail awaiting trial on a burglary charge.