A specialist police team has seized over one Million pounds worth of cash and goods from criminals using Yorkshire's roads in the first quarter of 2009.

The Regional Roads Policing Team launched in autumn 2008 with a remit to deny criminals the use of roads in Yorkshire and the Humber and to stop offenders who cross force boundaries to commit crimes.  Between 1 January and 31 March 2009, the Regional Roads Policing Team have seized over £1,000,668 of assets and stolen property from criminals who are using the regions roads. 

The team is one of the first of its kind in the country and is a joint collaboration between the four police forces of Yorkshire and the Humber with operational units based at Wakefield, Sheffield and Tadcaster and an Operations & Planning unit based in Wakefield.  They use a combination of specialist skills, sophisticated technology, and information supplied by the Regional Intelligence Unit at North East Leeds, to track down those who use roads to carry out serious and organised crime.

Each unit comprises a sergeant and eight police constables drawn from North, West and South Yorkshire forces.  Experienced officers from each of the four forces use a combination of high performance vehicles with state-of-the-art automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology from cameras in vehicles, together with information from the Regional Intelligence Unit to track down travelling criminals.

The Regional Roads Policing Team is committed to supplying additional support wherever needed across the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber.  South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes, speaking on behalf of the four Yorkshire and Humber chief constables, said: "The results are already showing what can be achieved by working together as a region and focusing on those using the roads to commit crime.  A joint-working approach is delivering great results and represents good value for the region."

"I welcome this continued success.  I'd like to think that criminals will learn that if they offend in one part of our county, they'll be pursued and arrested in all parts of it."

The team use intelligence led policing tactics to focus on locations experiencing increased levels of criminality the teams operate across the region to support the work of local forces and liaise with national organisations such as the Serious and Organised Crime Agency and UK Border Control. 

Further results for the first quarter of 2009 include:-

· A TPAC on the M1 that captured three Leeds' Burglars and property stolen from offices in North Yorkshire
· Arrests in Durham following high value burglaries in the Filey area
· Arrests in Rotherham for three Hanoi burglars who were intending to dispose of stolen vehicles in the Wakefield and Barnsley area.

Chief Inspector Mick Hunter, head of the Regional Roads Policing Team, said:  "The Regional Roads Policing Team is working hard to drive down crime, disrupt organised criminal networks and reduce casualties on our roads.

"The one million pound mark of recovered goods in just three months illustrates how the officers and staff within the department are already having an impressive impact against criminal networks across the region.  Local communities across the region have already benefited from our activity that has seen criminals arrested for offences such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, serious theft and fraud."

The Regional Roads Policing Team is the first fully functional collaborative unit that sees the four forces working together to delivery regional services where appropriate.  Yorkshire and the Humber is at the forefront of regional working, combining the resources of the four forces and collectively giving them better capacity and capability to deal with crime for the benefit of people within the region.

The principles of collaborative working also have the support of the four Police Authorities, collectively known as Joint Police Authorities Committee (JPAC).  The Chair of South Yorkshire Police Authority, Charles Perryman, said:  "The four Police Authorities in the region have committed funds to this project because they believe that it is a cost effective way of bringing benefits to the citizens of the region.  The early achievement of these seizures shows that our faith was well placed and gives us encouragement to look for further ways to enhance our regional working."

Notes

The Regional Programme Team is set up to coordinate the vision of the four Police Forces and four Police Authorities of Yorkshire and the Humber (YaTH) to work together to build capacity and capability in specialist and strategic areas of policing, particularly protective services.  Collaborative working will complement and enhance local policing, adding value and improving public confidence for the overall benefit of the Region.

The four forces of YaTH have already begun a process to look at areas of collaboration and joint working that will be effective to improve capacity and capability within protective services.  Each area of work has a Chief Constable overseer from the four forces.

Areas identified to benefit from collaborative working are:-

· Serious and organised crime
· Regional Intelligence Unit
· Strategic roads policing unit
· Regional mobilisation plan
· Custody processes and policies
· Employment framework
· Mobile information