Published on: Thursday, 21 March 2019
Last updated: Thursday, 21 March 2019
Two people were arrested and more than 30 fare evaders were caught following an operation with Hertfordshire Constabulary and Greater Anglia at railway stations in Hertfordshire last week.
Twenty-six people were issued with penalty fare notices and a further 10 were reported for fare evasion at Rye House on 14 and 15 March.
Three trespassers who walked on the tracks at Rye House with their bicycles will be spoken to by officers from British Transport Police’s trespass unit.
Two people were arrested for possession with intent to supply class A drugs and carrying a knife and a further two were issued warnings by the police for possessing cannabis.
At Hertford East, police conducted numerous stop and searches. They also helped with a safeguarding issue involving a young man was found to be travelling around the railway aimlessly. Police made enquiries and took the child home.
Mark Burgess-Lawrence, Greater Anglia’s Crime and Intelligence Manager, said: “There is no place for crime on the railway and we will continue to work with police to help make our network a safer place. Both joint operations were extremely successful and made a considerable impact.
“We take every measure to tackle fare evasion on our network. It’s always cheaper for people to buy a ticket rather than face a fine and a criminal record. If anyone witnesses a crime on the rail network, they should get in touch with British Transport Police immediately on 61016.”
Inspector Roy Stammers from the Broxbourne Safer Neighbourhood Team said: "As part of a national initiative to reduce knife crime - Operation Sceptre - last week we worked with a number of partners during a series of operations around Broxbourne.
"However, our work to target those suspected of being involved in such crime isn't limited to one week.
"We are continuing to use a range of tactics to disrupt and stop those involved in criminality and I hope our latest work once again demonstrates how robustly we take action against offenders."