A police unit in Suffolk dedicated to proactively working with individuals with a prolific offending history secured more than 450 voluntary admissions last year from criminals.

 The Operation Converter team intervenes where an offender wishes to voluntarily admit further similar offences by the process of having them taken into consideration (TIC) when sentenced at court.

The TIC process can only be used where a defendant has already been charged for a crime of a similar nature and entered a guilty plea.

In 2023 admissions to 453 offences were obtained from 76 offenders who were on remand, on bail or under investigation.

Around half these offences - 223 - were theft from shops, while nearly a quarter of these crimes were burglary – 102. Other offences included were theft from motor vehicles, theft of motor vehicles, making off without payment, drug offences, criminal damage and fraud offences.

The TIC process offers multiple benefits to all involved parties. It assists offenders looking to clear their slate with further signposting to restorative justice and rehabilitation services. It creates capacity by saving police and courts time and costs as matters can be finalised at one hearing. 

Most importantly, it provides victims with closure that the offender has been identified and dealt with through the justice system. 

Detective Inspector Greg Moore, who leads the Operation Converter team, said: "The key thing is securing a resolution for the victim - they get peace of mind that an offender has been caught and brought to justice.

"It also benefits the offender as they have a clean slate when released from prison, without the possibility they will later be traced for a further offence, giving them the opportunity to rehabilitate".

"It is important to say the TIC process can only be used when the defendant has been charged with offences of a similar nature.

"An expansion of the Op Converter team was funded by the policing precept increase in 2020 and I am very pleased with the results achieved by the team to date."

Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk Tim Passmore said: "Since the precept investment, paid for by us all though our council tax, over 1,900 crimes have been resolved, the vast majority of which would have remained undetected otherwise. This is a very impressive record and a tremendous return on our investment.

"The ability to clear unresolved crimes has many benefits. For the offender it means they can leave prison with a clean slate and this has shown to have a significant impact to reduce re-offending. More importantly victims can be reassured the person who committed a crime against them has been brought to justice.

"The overall aim of Op Converter is victim satisfaction, and what better way to achieve this than to be able to tell a victim that someone has been punished for their crime. This, in turn, increases public confidence, offender rehabilitation, property recovery and crime reduction."

The Op Converter TIC unit comprises of four police officers – two Detective Constables, two Police Constable and a member of police staff.