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Operators urged to sign 'use it or lose it' TruckPol. petition
Page 8
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1-J.? jc,anna 8ouri.c OPERATORS ARE being urged to 'use or lose' TruckPol as the freight crime body faces an uncertain future.
Following a low response to HGV security firm Viper Guard's online petition urging the reinstatement of Home Office support for TruckPol ('Security firm battles to save TruckPol funding'. CM 20 November 2008), it has decided to run the poll again in a final attempt to remind operators that they could lose the intelligence unit.
Just 300 people signed the petition, which ran between November and December 2008.
Viper Guard general manager Jones expects a Home Office response in early February: "The government are very good at looking at polls and if there were 3,000 signatures that might make a difference, but we only had 300." Debbie Don Armour, manager of fleet information at the Freight Transport Association, adds: "As signatories ourselves, we are disappointed that the petition did not get more support, especially as TruckPol is the only organisation of its type."
CM revealed last week that TruckPol, which is the commercial vehicle division of the Association of Chief Police Officers' Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (ACVIS), is to appoint a new head of unit despite questions over its funding.
• See Investigation on page 20 for CM'S freight crime map of Britain
The Central Motorway Police Group has revealed it owns just two pairs of night vision goggles across three constabularies.
Following a donation from Norbert Dentressangle, night vision equipment group Thomas Jacks has suppled a militaryspec monocular to help police see and catch HGV criminals at night.
Inspector Simon Westwood says it currently uses just one pair in the West Midlands, West Mercia and Staffordshire. "It would be nice to have a set at each base as it's a huge area."