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TruckPot boss reveals three-year action plan

13th August 2009
Page 6
Page 6, 13th August 2009 — TruckPot boss reveals three-year action plan
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

By Joanna Bourke

THE HEAD of freight crimefighting body TruckPol, Detective Alan Soames (pictured below), has unveiled his three-year plan to strengthen the division.

Soames joined TruckPol in February, but it was only in June that the Home Office guaranteed its future, by pledging £50,000 in funding.

Speaking exclusively to CM, Soames, who was an FIG V driver for 13 years, has outlined his plans for the next three years at TruckPol to ensure its future is not placed in doubt again: • Year one Spreading the word "We need to ensure people realise we exist. The more people who know about TruckPol, the more

information we have access to. We rely on police freight crime figures, so communication is something I am prioritising,"

• Year two-Get more active "Once we are more recognisable, we can campaign for more funding. There are only two of us employed here, and this is not enough to get out as much as we would like."

• Year three Crime crackdown "The problem is that there's no distinction between thefts from trucks and thefts from. cars. This causes drivers to leave crimes

unreported because they believe no arrests or investigations will be taken seriously.

"We are working closely with the Road Haulage Association (R1-1A) to emphasise that there is not enough secure parking, and to convince the Home Office how serious an issue HGV crime is."

The RHA says it is writing to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State responsible for crime reduction, Alan Campbell, calling for the de-coupling of freight crime from theft from passenger vehicles.

"We would like to see TruckPol get more funding. They are trying to run an important unit on a shoestring," says Chrys Rampley. RHA infrastructure manager.

Truck Pal is also involved in a three-year. European-funded project called North Sea Freight and Intelligent Transport Solutions, a system that provides live in-cab data about weather conditions parking, and crime hotspots.


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