POLICE have vowed to work towards changing convicted burglars’ behaviour once out of prison rather than merely responding to break-ins.

Det Supt Kevin Baldwin, detective superintendent for the South local policing area, said that teams needed to focus on keeping track of known offenders and changing their behaviour.

His claims come as Canvey experiences a considerable drop in burglaries, compared to December.

In December, extra funding was allocated to the island after a spate of break-ins at dawn. Extra officers were drafted in to reassure residents and deter criminals at the times they were most active.

As many as eight burglaries were being carried out in one night at the peak of the crime spree.

So far this year, there have been 25 burglaries on the island. There was a 16-day gap between March 4 and 20 where there were no recorded burglaries at all. Mr Baldwin said: “It’s good to see that this sort of crime has gone down on Canvey. We need to invest time and effort into the people we know that are doing it and preventing them from committing those offences.

“We can invest time going to victim’s homes, and we will still do that, but if we spend a significant portion of our effort to prevent those burglaries from happening in the first place it will help.

“Once people are released on licence, they have licensing conditions that we can monitor. If they are released without conditions, we will make them nominals that we can keep track of.”

Anyone with information about burglaries on Canvey can call the Castle Point and Rochford community policing team on Essex Police 101 or crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

  • Peter Flowers 42, and Lindsay Hilden, 36, both from Canvey, have been charged with conspiracy to burgle various homes in Canvey, Thurrock, Romford and Barking between December 13 and February 1 and one count of theft on January 2.

They have appeared at Basildon Magistrates’ Court and were remanded in custody to appear at Basildon Crown Court on March 24.