Truancy sweeps of the borough in the past fortnight have proved a huge success, say Waltham Forest police.

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has nominated 81 local authorities throughout the country to organise the sweeps, based on the levels of street crime reported and the strong correlation between truancy and offending.

The Education Welfare Service teamed up with police to spend a fortnight patrolling the borough's streets as part of the Safer Streets initiative.

On Monday morning, one of our reporters spent time with the patrol team and witnessed 13 youngsters being picked up, with almost half being taken back to their schools on the spot.

The scheme aims to reduce street crime. Seventy per cent of all youth crime is committed by youngsters who do not regularly attend school.

Inspector Iain Dickson, who led the operation, said: "Today has been quite busy.

"But every day since we began the operation we have recovered youths from our streets.

"The main objective is to get them back to their schools so they do not get drawn into the temptation of crime.

"Kids can get very bored when they're not inside school and we believe that if we clear the problem up at this stage, street crime will decline given time."

Many of the youngsters the police picked up on Monday did have legitimate reasons for not being in school.

One Kenyan family was due to take a holiday back home and this was confirmed by the school. Other children had been to visit their doctors or hospitals for check-ups.

Three boys were returned to their school after being spotted outside a newsagent ten minutes after their morning break had finished.

However, many of the children were clearly playing truant. One boy, who for legal reasons cannot be named, saw the police approaching him and tried his hardest to cycle away.

But when he was caught, officers were greeted with a cry of 'Oh no, not again'. The boy was a known truant who had been caught last week.

Insp Dickson was due to meet the boy and his head teacher on Monday afternoon to discuss his truancy.

Insp Dickson said: "The boy is a known truant and we know that he has problems at home as well. We will be working closely with the school to make sure the situation is dealt with as well as possible."

The truancy sweeps come just a week after a woman was jailed for 60 days in Banbury, Oxfordshire, for not ensuring her children attended school. Stephen Clarke, senior education welfare officer for EduAction, which runs schools services in the borough, said: "Parents do have a legal responsibility to ensure that their children receive an education.

"Parents who neglect this responsibility are at risk of prosecution by the local authority.

"EduAction staff are available to offer advice and guidance to parents who may be experiencing difficulties with their children's school attendance."

EduAction can be contacted on 8521 4311 ext 239.