Those living in the Stokesley area may be aware of an Operation we currently have running called Operation Heel. This Operation is our response to rural burglaries in the area and sees us utilising resources from our response teams, neighbourhoods and operations units to target offenders.

Unfortunately we see offenders from our bordering force Cleveland commit crime in our area, and we saw offenders attempting this last night.

Late last night we received a couple of reports in relation to some suspicious vehicles, poaching and scoping out farms. We believe this group were in our area to commit crime.

Police flocked to the reported location and located an abandoned recovery truck with a vehicle on the back.

We had seen the lights of these vehicles, and when following gave chase to one that made off from the police, and the proceeded to get itself stuck in a field. The males with this vehicle have clearly contacted their mates who decided to bring out a recovery truck to try and rescue it and them from the scene.

Luckily the offenders saw us coming, and although they managed to evade us running into the night sky, we have taken their vehicles from them and will be making enquiries to ID the keepers and occupants of the vehicles involved.

Sometimes it's all about the little wins. Yes we would have loved to catch the offenders in the act and land them in our police cells, but that disruption to them by taking their vehicles will have impacted the rest of their night.

The calls from the members of the public reporting this group to us, and the action taken by the officers have prevented any thefts or burglaries on this evening which is always positive to see.

Should you see any suspicious activity, or witness a crime in progress please contact us on 101, through the North Yorkshire Police website or in an emergency call 999.

If you would like a visit from your local team to offer some crime prevention advice please reply to this email and we arrange a time to discuss.