TruckPoi delayed over funding doubts By Derren Hayes THE CREATION
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of the new TruckPol anti-crime service is being held up because of uncertainty over how it will be funded.
As the first anniversary of the closure of the original TruckPol approaches, it has emerged that plans to establish the new initiative by April have had to be delayed because agreement over how the haulage industry will fund it has not been reached.
The National Business Crime Intelligence Bureau (NBCIB) — a police-led initiative that is going to oversee the management of the new TruckPol — wants operators to pay a flat tariff for accessing the information about LGV crime that TruckPol will hold.
However, the Road Haulage Association (RHA) believes a tiered model of fees linked to levels of access would be more flexible and appeal to operators of all sizes.
RHA security manager Chrys Rampley said some large operators paying into the system might want access to more in-depth data and the ability to speak directly to police forces, whereas smaller companies may need less detail.
"TruckPol used to have a tiered tariff. A flat tariff might work for individual companies, but for trade bodies [with members of various sizes] it won't," said Rampley.
The RHA TruckPol working group is to meet in early April to "tease out" what members want from it, the results of which will be passed to the NBCIB to help finalise the model.
TruckPol will be part of a bigger network of anti-business crime initiatives run by the NBCIB sitting under an umbrella organisation called the English Resilience Hub, which is being launched on 1 April. It had been hoped that TruckPol would also be ready to start then after the initial January relaunch was delayed (CM 26 February).
The original TruckPol closed in March 2012 following the withdrawal of government funding.