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TruckPol receives mixed co-operation
Page 6
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Anti-truck crime unit finds lack of guidelines create inconsistency among forces filing truck crime reports. Guy Sheppard investigates.
MAJOR DIFFERENCES have emerged in the level of co-operation that police forces around the country are giving TruckPol, the national anti-truck crime unit.
More than half failed to submit more than 30 reports in an entire year. Even West Midlands Police which, with London, shares the dubious honour of topping the truck crime league, submitted fewer than 100.
In its first annual report TruckPol says: "Police force areas have been inconsistent, with no clear guidelines or formal processes by which information is submitted. We have worked very hard to build relationships with police force intelligence bureaux to obtain data and have found that co-operation is dependent entirely on personal contacts." One possible reason for these variations not mentioned in the report is a fear among some forces that their responsibilities are being eroded by the Metropolitan Police. The Met established TruckPol in April 2003, when the National Stolen Lorry Desk run by Essex Police closed.
By far the highest level of notifications (450) came from the Met, but this is explained by TruckPol staff checking the Met's crime information system every day Lancashire, West Yorkshire and Thames Valley were the only other forces where more than 203 notifications were recorded by TruckPol.
TruckPol boss Detective Sergeant Mark Hooper says: "We are finally getting police officers and police forces to talk to each other."