MORE than 40 people were arrested across North Yorkshire yesterday, as part of a major police campaign.

Operation Hawk has been running since June, but a special day of action took place yesterday with increased patrols in city and town centres and extra officers on the roads, to clamp down on crime in the county and criminals from neighbouring areas.

By 3pm, a total of 43 arrests had been made, including 10 in York, nine in Selby, five in Harrogate, 15 in Scarborough and four in Northallerton, on a variety of charges from drug offences, theft, burglary and non-payment of fines.

Police Chiefs also took to the streets, with Assistant Chief Constable Paul Kennedy on patrol with 22 special constables and the Safer Neighbourhood Team last night (WEDS), and Chief Constable Dave Jones joining local police teams in Scarborough and Ryedale.

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Ken McIntosh took to the streets of York with PC Hannah Dearden, and spoke with members of the public, shop staff and traders throughout the day.

He said: “This is all about visibility in the city centre because the public loves that, they like to see police officers and we try to get as many on foot as possible. I think there were an additional 150 over and above in total around the county today.

“I was out two weeks ago in Harrogate, because we’re all frustrated cops and spend a lot of our time in meetings and want to get out and get visible, not just to the public, but to staff too, who I think really appreciate it. We’ve had really good feedback from colleagues, because we can be quite removed and they appreciate that we experience the same thing as them.”

In Clifton, officers executed a warrant at a property and arrested a 15-year-old youth, a 38-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman on suspicion of burglary. All remain in police custody at time of going to press.

A 62-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman were alse arrested in Clifton on suspicion of possession of cannabis with intent to supply, and a 21-year-old man was arrested at a property in Regents Street on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Kennedy who was on patrol with officers in the York area, said: “So far the operation has been a huge success but we not even half way through.

“Today’s action is just a flavour of what goes on across the force 24 hours a day. We’re sending a clear message to criminals that we won’t tolerate their activities, and a message to our communities that we will do everything possible to keep them safe and keep our area one of the safest in the country. The operation is not even half way through, so I’m looking forward to us making more arrests as well as deterring criminality across the county during our evening and night-time operations.