Around 40 drug warrants each year are being carried out across North Norfolk and Broadland as community policing teams carry out joint operations.

And after disrupting a cannabis factory in Felthorpe this week, a North Norfolk sergeant has said they are targeting drugs which have the 'biggest impact on society'.

Last week around 30 officers, drawn from North Norfolk, Broadland, Norwich and the tactical crime unit, uncovered the second cannabis factory in two days in the village north of Norwich.

And Sgt Toby Gosden has said because of 104 beat managers 'embedded in their communities' in the new Norfolk 2020 policing model, more intelligence is being fed through them.

It comes after the role of PCSO was scrapped last year and extra beat managers were recruited.

'People trust them, people talk to them and people know how to contact them. Because of that, intelligence is up,' said Sgt Gosden.

'We then get together and act on that intelligence.'

Three properties were raided in Felthorpe and Horsford last week, in a joint operation between Sgt Gosden and Broadland sergeant Angela Youd.

'We are now doing around 40 warrants a year around North Norfolk and Broadland,' Sgt Gosden added. 'We try to target drugs that are having an impact on society at the time.

'In Sheringham, for instance, when you might have someone dealing drugs to children that will have a huge impact. We try to target drugs that are having the biggest impact on young people, and if we can solve one problem you might be able to remove other elements like child sexual exploitation.

'The problem is this is organised crime.'

Chief Constable Simon Bailey told this newspaper last week he has the ability to act on community concerns as they are reported due to the uplift in warranted officers.

'Through that investment in police officers in neighbourhoods, there is an ability for us to be able to deal with our communities' problems in a way we simply weren't able to before,' he said.

'I now have the ability to surge into our towns and the city large numbers of officers to go in and address issues such as anti-social behaviour, serious organised crime or drug dealing, and provide a constant presence.'

Anyone with information about crime in their area should call Norfolk Police on non-emergency number 101, or 999 for a crime in progress.