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Proof! Proper policing works
Page 16
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Specialist truck cnme units can have a dramatic effect — in the West Midlands offences have more than halved. Jennifer Ball reports
TRUCK CRIME in the Black Country has fallen 51% since the launch of the West Midlands police truck crime unit, Operation Indicate, last year.
There were 72 incidents in the first quarter of 2005, compared with 146 incidents in the same period last year.The value of goods stolen fell from £5.5m to £3.8m.
Speaking at the recent Metropolitan Police freight crime conference, DCI Carl Foulkes from Operation Indicate said:-We have become more proactive in looking at truck crime and co-ordinating with the other regional forces.
"We have previously been criticised by victims for not updating them on our actions but have taken this on board. We now hold regular meetings with our partners in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia, The Central Motorway Police Group and The National Criminal Intelligence Service. "We have intro duced minimum investigation standards across all the forces to ensure that operators receive consistent levels of support."
But Andrew Kay from K Transport Services, which recently had a£64,000 horse transporter stolen, was disap pointed with the police response: -We reported the crime at 2.30pm but they didn't turn up until midday the following day. When they did turn up they did a thorough investigation and seemed interested in our case, hut by that time the vehicle could have been on a ferry."
Foulkes says this is not the response he would expect:"Operati on Indicate has contacted the firm again and one of our officers will visit them to follow up on the case."
Contact: www.west midlands.police.uldindicate • Operation Indicate has launched an instant messaging system called PROMPTEXT which enables operators on a secure web-based message system to receive crime updates, either by mobile phone, or by voice message to a landline. Each message is directed to a specific person in each firm so the information can be passed on.