WAITING for the green light, specialist officers in riot gear sat in marked police cars on a quiet street, half a mile from their target. Then, at precisely 5pm on January 2, the convoy wound its way through the streets of Chelmsford, to make an unwelcome entry at two homes where cannabis was suspected of being grown.
An hour earlier, at the Special Operations Division in Boreham, the team had been briefed by PC Jim Allen.
Officers from the Operational Support Group, intelligence-led police trained to deal with public order offences and drugs searches, the Force Support Unit, which deals with firearms and building entry, and the Dogs Unit, were given background information on the raid.
Before the raid, Sergeant Lee Devall said: "We receive intelligence from a variety of sources and today was set up by the Serious Crime Directorate, who have the overview of drugs intelligence. They have set today up as part of a series of raids.
"We are trained to do it and are the best placed people to get the results they want."
As the first cars pulled up outside the addresses in Ockleford Avenue and Shelley Road, FSU officers equipped with stun guns leapt out to lead the way in.
A dozen police officers storming the property from the front and back, and the objections of the occupants, attracted a gaggle of neighbours in Ockleford Avenue.
"What's going on?" shouted some, while others stood on the pavement, watching from a distance with their dogs, or peered out of windows.
Despite a thorough search of both properties by officers and Bobby the sniffer dog, neither address was found to be cultivating cannabis. A disappointing outcome for the officers.
"You win some, you lose some" said Sgt Devall.
He added: "The good thing is that if people give information about drugs, everyone can see we are doing something about it.
"It has an impact on the community and that alone puts people off doing it."
