METROPOLITAN police officers are continuing to stamp out car crime in an initiative running across London until the end of March.

Various tactics are used, from high visibility policing to police technology, and Mobile Automatic Number Plate Readers (ANPRs) are deployed at key locations.

The ANPR quickly reads car number plates and flags up any vehicle that is of interest to police, from an uninsured car to one that is stolen.

Richmond Police have run a year long operation called Operation Footbrake which resulted in a huge 37 per cent reduction in car crime. Other boroughs across the Met will be adopting the successful tactics used by Richmond police during Footbrake.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, from the Met's Territorial Policing Crime Directorate, said: "Although car crime is down in London it does not mean that we have reduced our efforts to tackle these criminals. We aim to cause maximum disruption to motor vehicle thieves, preventing them from committing crimes and if they do, arresting them.

"We have looked at the vehicle crime patterns closely and used that to pinpoint areas known as 'hotspots'. Extra officers and technology will be working in those areas in an attempt to make an even bigger difference. The warning to criminals committing car crime is clear we are focusing our attention on you."