POLICE have launched a four-week campaign today to crack down on crime and anti-social behaviour over the Easter period.The aim of Operation Spring Clean is to target resources to a number of areas in a bid to catch more offenders and reduce crime.

POLICE have launched a four-week campaign today to crack down on crime and anti-social behaviour over the Easter period.

The aim of Operation Spring Clean is to target resources to a number of areas in a bid to catch more offenders and reduce crime.

Police across the Ipswich, Waveney and Suffolk Coastal districts of the county will be taking part in the campaign, which starts from today and will run for four weeks through the Easter and school holiday period until Sunday, April 13.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Quantrell said: “Extra officers will be on patrol, thanks to additional funding being made available, and we will be out to provide reassurance to the public, linking in with local Safer Neighbourhood Teams to address local issues.

“We know that the Easter holidays tend to be busy for us. It's the start of the holiday season for many of our resort towns, school children are on holiday and people usually have some time off work and this all adds up to an increase in the numbers of people visiting the coast and our major towns.

“Police will be engaged in enforcement activity and will be conducting high visibility patrols in key locations, including pro-actively policing pubs and clubs and areas known to suffer from anti-social behaviour.

“We would encourage residents to support the campaign by remaining vigilant and by reporting any unusual activity to officers immediately using 999. Simple measures, such as noting the description of potential offenders or taking the registration of any suspicious vehicle, can be very useful.”

The campaign follows the success of Operation Bakery, run in the Waveney and Suffolk Coastal areas at the end of March and beginning of April last year.

Police will be working with partner agencies including Ipswich, Waveney and Suffolk Coastal Community Safety Partnerships, councils, Trading Standards and Federation Against Copyright Theft during the campaign.