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Police want Truck Watch nationa Iy
Page 6
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Exclusive!
TruckWatch initiative could go nationwide to help stop HGV
crime. Guy Sheppard reports.
A PIONEERING initiative designed to stop truck crime could be extended throughout the country after police abandoned plans to expand their own unit.
Truck Watch is run by the nonprofit making company People United Against Crime (PUAC) which maintains a database of truck drivers' phone numbers for South Yorkshire Police to use when seeking help in finding stolen trucks and loads.
PUAC chief executive David Ransom is meeting a sub-group of the government-backed Joint Action Group on Lorry Theft (JAGOLT) today (15 July) to discuss expanding nationwide.
"If we went national we would start with the regions that suffer most from HGV crime such as the West Midlands,London,Yorkshire and Humberside," says Ransom. "We are talking about launching the concept in November but I don't think we will get funding until the next financial year."
Membership fees, which range from £40 to £100 depending on fleet size, cover newsletters, seminars and visits by anti-theft experts to individual hauliers as well as admin.
Ransom says one of the main drawbacks to extendingthe scheme nationally is that the 51 police forces in mainland Britain have many different ways of recording vehicle crime. "When some forces receive information about a stolen vehicle they don't necessarily flag it as an HGV," he adds.
The Truck Watch scheme has already been set up in other parts of the country but with limited success, partly because it has been heavily dependent on individual police officers who subsequently move to new jobs.
Earlier this year the head of TruckPol, formerly known as the National Stolen Lorry Load Desk, said he was hoping to double its manpower to provide 24/7 cover (CM 4 March).
But Detective Sergeant Mark Hooper says this idea has now been scrapped, partly because of moves to revamp TruckWatch:"24/7 cover is not considered suitable. Vehicle crime is fairly low on the agenda. If a detective arrests someone with a van load of trainers at 3am, that person can stay in custody until Sam."