A visit to the Staffordshire Police Road Crime Team based at Doxey, Stafford was amazing for a group of 27 former officers on Wednesday 12 March. Memories of the old portacabin and the subsequent brick shed at the M6 Works site were evaporated when going through the security fenced compound and entering a plush modern two floor building housing National Highways, Staffordshire Police Road Crime Team, and maintenance contractors Colas.
Welcomed by Chief Inspector Scott McGrath, the large group was split for tours of the building, guided by Inspector Sion Hathaway and Sergeant McKenzie who explained the set up and modern structures and equipment.
In addition to the motorway patrol crews, three cars per shift for the Staffordshire M6 and Toll Road, the building is also home to the Serious Collisions Investigation Unit, four sergeants and eight constables. The team works closely with the Forensic Collision Investigation Unit based separately at Police HQ. The specialist Family Liaison Team of four constables are deployed by the senior collision investigating officers to support and guide surviving victims and relatives of casualties through the investigative, legal, inquest, and trial stages of serious cases.
In 2024 there were 45 fatalities in the county from road traffic collisions, and many more casualties with life changing injuries.
The demise of the Central Motorway Policing Group (CMPG) last year had brought seconded officers back to the Force with skills and expertise now much needed locally. Their remit has been to maintain safety on the strategic road network running through the county, and supporting local policing teams with localised problems such as the continuing off road nuisances of quad-bikes and trail bikes.
Escorting abnormal loads through the network is another important facet of the teams’ work. It was enlightening to hear that all permitted movements are charged to the hauliers, and officers are deployed entirely on Rest Day overtime, so leaving routine deployment unaffected. Changes in finance and budget regulations allow all permit fees to be deposited in a fund used solely for Road Crime Team equipment purchases. This has allowed the procurement of off-road motorcycles and two new aerial surveillance drones are on order.
A surveillance drone is available 24 hours a day to the team. Each shift has a pilot holding a Civil Aviation Authority license. The deployment of the drone is quickly available and flexible, more so than the services of the National Police Air Service helicopters or fixed wing alternatives.
The drone is deployed for taking photographs and video of collision or crime scenes, providing aerial support for pre-planned and reactive operations and providing live footage of operational deployments to assist command decisions and direction to officers on the ground. The drone in current use typically flies at up to150 feet above ground and up to a mile in line of sight from the operator. Where required, notification to the CAA or Air Traffic Control is simple, to alert other fliers to avoid the area. The drone can stay airborne for about 45 minutes before needing a battery change.
Video footage was shown of recent operations in the county were the drone has been used in pursuit of off-road quads and motor cycles.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras are increasing the focus of policing response. The hand held tablets/radios of officers pick up alerts from the national network of fixed ANPR, mobile ANPR (fitted to traffic cars, motor cycles, and safety camera vans). The alerts are triggered from cameras recognising numbers input to the central database from the Police National Computer (PNC), Motor Insurers Bureau, Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), and local force intelligence.
The sophistication of the ANPR capability was demonstrated by the ‘impossible journey’ scenario. A lorry was logged passing a camera in Cornwall. Twenty minutes later a camera in Staffordshire recorded a lorry with the same registration. The system, recognising the lorry cannot travel that far in the time created an alert which was picked up by a nearby patrol. Spotting the vehicle a short time later, an attempt to stop the lorry resulted in a pursuit. The driver took dangerous manoeuvres, colliding with several other vehicles, did U-turns onto incoming slip roads, crossed footpaths, and was eventually brought to a halt by a tactical contact stop. Another wrecked patrol car! Five persons on the lorry (2 from the cab, and 3 from the cargo bay) were arrested, and stolen spirits to the value of £80K recovered. A composite video from the police vehicles, air support, and body cameras of the officers is to be compelling evidence in court.
The technology carried in cars, on motor cycles, body worn cameras and tablets carried by officers are phenomenal aids to detection and evidence gathering.
Though some from the ‘old school’ may frown, the patrol car fleet today (marked and unmarked) are fitted with telematics, front, rear and internal cameras and microphones. These can be live monitored by supervision and the Force Control Room. Telematics records the activity of all vehicle controls and motion. The position of cars is displayed on the Force Mapping System. A similar system is imbedded in the personal radios carried by officers.
Checking driver and vehicle documentation is much easier than the days of only issuing the production request HO/RT/1. When a driver gives a name and date of birth, their driving licence photo can be displayed on their device within seconds. Vehicle documentation details are also quickly available on the portable devices. Though dependant on the data being up to date, these systems make verification checks quicker and simpler.
The visit gave us assurance that Staffordshire Police has a clear aim and strategy for making our roads safer to be on.
As a thank you for the hospitality and time taken by the team to show us their home base, Ray Calladine and Dave Dawson (on behalf of the Friday Nighters) presented a framed montage of former Staffordshire Police patrol cars as a memento of the occasion.