There was no crowd of teenagers outside the off-licence on the edge of the Three Four Estate in Basildon yesterday afternoon and the telephone box still had not been vandalised.

Smoking a cigarette in the sunshine, John Bollman, 79, a retired shipworker, felt that it was a sign of progress. “Something must be happening,” he said.

Brenda Yewman, 62, a lollipop lady, walks past the shops in the Vange district of Basildon on her way to work. “There used to be gangs of teenagers, just sitting about,” she said. “I used to be scared even to walk past them. They are not there now.” According to Inspector Steve Ditchburn, area commander for the district of south Basildon, including Vange, these advances in the fight against antisocial behaviour are the fruits of Operation Leopard, an initiative that the Home Secretary wishes to see copied across the country.

The operation was born of a sudden rise in crime on the estate, from three crimes a day to ten. Police intelligence and local residents suggested that this was due to the emergence of a new group of teenagers, among them former offenders.

“I was talking with my sergeant about it,” Mr Ditchburn said. “He is a forward intelligence officer who polices football crowds and hunt meetings. We decided to use the same tactics on the estate.” For four days two teams waited outside the homes of the gang leaders. They followed them all day, taking pictures, noting names and addresses and carrying out searches. At first the teenagers laughed. After a few hours most went home.

“The first week after the operation there was hardly any crime,” Mr Ditchburn said. It had cost £2,000. When crime rose once more they repeated the exercise, stabilising crime again.

South Anglia Housing, which owns the estate, has offered to fund 12 more operations. Some believe that such methods, along with parenting orders and good behaviour contracts, could replace antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs). In Vange, many residents are sceptical about the effectiveness of the ASBO, but they are more convinced by Operation Leopard. Mark Pritchard, 45, a father of four, said: “ASBOs don’t work. A lady on the estate had horrendous problems with two neighbours. They both got ASBOs, but they still forced her out.”

However, he believes that Operation Leopard is a step too far. His 17-year-old son was one of those targeted. “He’s walking around the estate with his mates and standing on a corner and getting photographed. It does make you wonder what they are doing it for, except that some old dear is worried about getting mugged.”

“The police should leave us alone,” one teenager told The Times. “They follow us even though we aren’t doing anything. You can’t get no peace in Vange.”

Times Recommends

• Third of Muslim students back killings
• Curfew tames feral yobs of Cornwall
• £3,000-a-month drug free abroad