Policing roads not ‘just about traffic crime and tickets’
TEAM ALSO TASKED TO KEEP OFFENDERS OUT OF THE CITY
IT’S 9am in Newark, and there is a call across the radio that a Mini has been reported stolen. The road policing team are ready for action.
Sergeant Craig Luckett and his team have a sighting, it has pinged up on one of the ANPR cameras, and a pursuit is about to commence.
Sergeant Luckett switches on his sirens, and cars and trucks start to part as he whizzes down the middle of the A-roads towards Cotgrave.
His seven-person team, part of the road policing unit, are coordinating their response. Already, they have a picture of the driver from one of the cameras, a witness statement, and know the address of where the man allegedly lives. He is a known criminal.
Sergeant Luckett said: “It is not just traffic offences and giving out tickets.
“We police the main routes within the force but also get the criminal aspect to it. Baddies all use cars.”
Sergeant Luckett’s team are responsible for keeping criminals out of Nottinghamshire, who use the roads to transport drugs, weapons and cash.
They also come into the city to commit crime, which ranges from burglary, robbery to ATM raids where cash machines are ripped out of the walls.
But his team have in-built ANPR cameras on their vehicles which detect a suspicious car and within seconds a history check can be made over the radio.
Sergeant Luckett can clock up to 200 miles a day, working from north to the south of the county, and even policing the miles of motorway that feeds into the city.
This week, burglars broke into homes in Lincolnshire and stole two vehicles. Intelligence suggests they are in hiding in the Newark area, and his team are on the lookout. They are also aware the criminals are using a cloned vehicle, where the number plates have been changed, to evade arrest.
“There is a mass increase in this,” he said. “We found 15 to 20 number plates in the back of one car.”
Criminals will steal a car, such as a black Golf, and then hunt around for a similar model of the car and then clone their number plates.
The innocent driver of that car might not know his number plates are being used by criminals until they ping up on a camera.
“We get a lot of cross-border criminality – where Nottingham is located everyone passes through it. If you are going from the south to the north you are coming through here.
“Recently, we started having vehicles stolen in London located in Nottingham and you have got to find that link.
“Is there a reason or a handler or a demand here or is it ‘Gone In 60 Seconds’ and stolen for order?
“If you start having an influx of stolen hatchback vehicles – high powered and sporty – then you know the likelihood they will be used in an ATM theft because it is a fast getaway and there is plenty of room. Your spider senses start to tingle. Some criminals are very clever.
“It is cops and robbers and we are getting paid to do it.”
He said sometimes you can detect criminals by their behaviour behind the wheel, such as spinning around when they see police or speeding away.
This was the case with a recent job when they put car thief Evan Pidgeon, 32, of Inham Road, Chilwell, behind bars after a high-speed police pursuit.
Pidgeon was travelling at 40mph in a 30mph road. It was at this point, the officer moved to intercept the car and, rather than stop, the offender began to drive at a reckless speed.
Pidgeon had stolen a vehicle – and tried to escape arrest by speeding at 90mph in Derby Road, with the offender crashing into a police car before colliding into a tree. He was jailed for a year.
But it is not just about catching criminals who steal vehicles. The team also must ensure Nottinghamshire’s roads are safe, which includes clamping down on distracted drivers who might be using mobile phones.
A new operation will see police behind the wheel of an unmarked HGV to monitor the behaviour of other HGV drivers.
Sergeant Luckett said: “They are in seven tonnes of metal and if distracted they could cause some serious injury or death.
“That is just as important as catching drug dealers, robbers or burglars because you are saving people’s lives.”