I watched on as officers stormed homes in one area of Liverpool this morning
Merseyside Police's Operation Vanguard in Anfield
Merseyside Police's Operation Vanguard in Anfield(Image: merseyside police)
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In the early hours of the morning, Liverpool's streets were awash with blue lights as dozens of police vans, unmarked cars and motorcycles moved silently through the city. The convoy carried hundreds of officers, setting off from Merseyside Police's headquarters to take the fight to the criminals.
I arrived at the Cazneau Street building just after 5am, where upwards of 200 officers had been briefed ahead of the rollout of Operation Vanguard - a large-scale operation proactively targeting those involved in criminality and causing the most harm to communities.
Alongside fellow journalists and camera crews, I climbed into the back of an unmarked minibus which joined the silent convoy as it passed through the city centre in an impressive show of force. The destination was Anfield, an area Chief Constable Rob Carden described as "lucky" to have been picked at random for the crackdown.
We parked in a side street, out of sight and close to the property that would be targeted. As the clock struck 7am, blue lights illuminated the road - which the ECHO has chosen not to identify—as police rushed to cut open a metal gate leading into the backyard of flats.
Officers took just minutes to force their way into the building, with a man heard to shout "just leave it," as he hung out the window of the property.
But as police knocked the door down, he quickly retreated from the open window and went back into the flat.
We moved swiftly to another address, this one closer to the Vauxhall area, and again the door was breached with ease. To look at the house you'd never believe anything illegal could be going on behind its door.
Although we visited two addresses during the morning raids, police were not seen to make any arrests while the ECHO was in attendance. Police later updated that 41 people had been detained on suspicion of offences including possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs, sexual offences and possession of indecent images.
This morning's raids underscore how seriously Merseyside Police is taking organised criminality, with Chief Constable Carden underlining the force's commitment to have contempt for criminality while simultaneously showing compassion for victims and decent law-abiding people.
As well as doors being breached, traffic police conducted roadside checks, mounted officers undertook patrols across Anfield, and land searches were carried out to support the work done by the 230 officers deployed before the sun had even thought about rising.
When the ECHO spoke with Chief Constable Carden he drew from his own experiences on the beat, vowing to implement large-scale operations such as this on a regular basis - all under the Operation Vanguard banner.
Planning is underway for the next operation, with the chief constable hinting the force could even hit Anfield a second time in the next phase.
In messaging issued by the force, it explained how Vanguard supports day-to-day policing, with intelligence driving the operation forward.
Back at the ECHO's offices, the newsdesk had been receiving calls all morning from people who had seen the convoy moving through the city and wondered what had happened. It's difficult to deny how visually impressive Vanguard was, and it certainly seemed to have caught the city's attention.