Wiltshire Police 'best at fighting serious crime'

Det Supt Ben Mant praised officers for their hard work

Wiltshire Police has been ranked as the top force in the country for disrupting organised crime.

Figures submitted by 41 forces in England and Wales - not including those in London - shows that per 1,000 people, Wiltshire Police records 3.27 disruptions of serious organised crime.

This figure is around four times the national average and the highest of the forces that shared their data.

Det Supt Ben Mant praised officers for the hard work that they have put in.

A disruption occurs when the force impacts an organised crime group or an individual involved in serious organised crime, resulting in them being unable to operate at their usual level of criminality.

Mr Mant said: "These stats reflect the hard work that our community and neighbourhood policing teams, as well as our specialist teams, have been putting in to disrupt organised criminal gangs and serious organised crime offenders.

Wiltshire police crime commissioner Philip Wilkinson added: "County lines, drug-related crime and anti-social behaviour causes real distress within communities.

"While these disruption figures indicate the proactive, intelligence-led, policing being carried out by Wiltshire Police is achieving results, both the chief constable and I are not complacent about county lines and the impact it has on our communities.

"We know it will take some time for the hard work in securing these disruptions to be felt by the communities themselves, but residents can be reassured that the hard work and dedication of Wiltshire Police continues in the meantime."

Neither the Metropolitan Police or the City of London Police submitted figures for the report.