A crackdown on burglaries is underway in St Albans, police have revealed.

St Albans Det Insp Alex Warwick said although 29.1 per cent fewer burglaries occurred in the first six months of 2019 in the district compared to the same six months of last year, data gathered over the past three years from January 2016 shows that almost 40 per cent of burglaries happen between October and January.

She explained: "We take every burglary personally and put a lot of resources in to preventing and detecting every burglary that happens in St Albans, Harpenden and surrounding districts. We have robust plans in place to prevent burglaries and we know who some of our burglars are, so we keep an extra eye on them. Obviously we cannot be on every street 24 hours a day so I'd like to remind residents to make sure they lock their windows and doors, use timer switches on lights, consider investing in alarms, CCTV or doorbell cams, and report any suspicious behaviour."

When a burglary is reported in action, officers will go to the address whilst back up officers will do an area search in the nearby streets and if appropriate, will call on the assistance of the police helicopter and dog units to help track down the burglars.

When a burglary is discovered retrospectively, officers will attend and take a crime report from the victim and conduct an initial investigation, including statements, initial house-to-house enquiries, crime scene preservation and they will offer victim support. Scenes of officers may attend to obtain forensic evidence. They will also gather CCTV and review information.

Officers will also look at the type of burglary, for example if they specifically targeted an address for high value gold or expensive vehicles, whether it is a daytime or night-time burglary, any series or 'hotspots', how they got into the address whether it was via the front or back of the property and whether they conducted a tidy or untidy search.

Burglar Azariah Morgan, 36, was recently sentenced to five years and four months imprisonment for a number of burglaries committed in St Albans and other parts of Hertfordshire between February and April 2019.