NORTH Yorkshire Police have made a record 96 arrests in one day as part of the ongoing crack down on crime, Operation Delivery.

People from across the county were arrested for drug-dealing, violence, shop-lifting and burglary on a Wednesday this month. There were also arrests of people who had failed to appear at court to answer charges, or who had not paid fines.

The ranks of uniformed officers, detectives, special constables and police community support officers already working on Operation Delivery were swelled for the day by officers who normally work behind the scenes, including intelligence-gatherers, trainers and scientific specialists.

They made arrests for house burglary and also four for the burglary of commercial premises.

Officers were also involved in a high speed pursuit when a man wanted on a warrant for failing to appear at court sped off in his car. He was caught and arrested.

Since Operation Delivery was launched on September 8, 646 arrests have been made in the eastern area of the county, 548 in the western area and 666 in central.

Chief Constable Della Cannings has pledged that the operation will continue to hit criminals, both in the county and outside it. "This operation is relentless," she said, "and woe betide any law-breaker who gets in the way of me keeping my promises that we will deliver better performance across a range of areas."

Some of the arrests made on the one Wednesday this month came from information provided by Operation Ratcatcher, in which residents are encouraged to call Crime stoppers with information on local crimes and criminals.

Deputy Chief Constable Roger Baker said: "Operation Delivery is proving a considerable success. That pleases me, it pleases the officers, and it pleases the majority of the people we serve.

"As for the lawbreakers - I urge them to get used it; Delivery is not going to go away, and it will only get tougher."