Plain-clothes police have been scoring successes against criminals operating in Yeadon.

But members of the public are also being asked to play their part, following a recent spate of car crimes in Wharfedale and Aireborough.

More than 40 incidents of car crime have been reported over the last two weeks in Yeadon, Rawdon, Horsforth and Otley.

Detective Inspector Liam McNamara, of Weetwood Police, said: "These four areas are getting a hammering at the moment.

"The format seems to be vehicles parked in the street or outside people's homes and in driveways.

"They appear to be going for valuables left in the vehicle and the variety of items taken is immense, from computers to things like coats. But a coat can cost a couple of hundred pounds.

"The advice is that if you have a garage, stick your car in the garage, but obviously everything should go in the boot or should be taken out of the car completely - and that includes car radios, most of which are quite easily removed."

He said plain-clothes police had notched up some significant successes in the past few months, adopting a strategy of putting resources into target areas, one of those being Yeadon.

Det Insp McNamara said: "We have concentrated on Yeadon quite specifically.

"It has featured in our crime statistics in showing a rise, so we put a lot of resources in that area, particularly plain-clothes officers, our pro-active teams.

"We have arrested four men we believe are responsible for a considerable amount of vehicle crime in the Yeadon area. As a result of this we see a drop of 38 per cent between March and April and that decline is continuing into this month."

He added: "But again, theft from motor vehicles and all car crime is still a major problem which, again, we are concentrating on."

The strategy has been paying dividends, he said, with a 58 per cent drop in house burglaries from March to April.

There was an average monthly drop of 40 per cent in this category since January.

Arrests have also been made in relation to burglaries on sheds and garages, with a drop of seven per cent on each month's figure and an average drop of 17 per cent.

Det Insp McNamara said: "We are taking Yeadon as an area that is small enough for us to concentrate on.

"It has certainly been one of the success stories of the division."

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