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It's crime fighting time
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For the first time in 12 months overall truck crime has fallen. But is it rising on the policing
agenda? Jennifer Ball investigates.
Finally, some good news. Overall truck crime fell 10% in the past year—the police finally seem to be making headway. TruckPol, the Metropolitan Police road freight crime unit, received 702 reports of truck crime during the first quarter, compared with 781 in the same period last year.
The mood at the Metropolitan police's recent freight crime conference was also positive,with a clear indication that specialist freight crime units are having an impact. However, more needs to be done — while vehicle thefts have fallen, criminals are becoming more violent and are not afraid to use firearms. Over the past quarter 13 drivers were hijacked; almost double the number in the same period a year earlier.
Delegates heard about the suc cess of Operation Grafton, a joint initiative between the Metropolitan, Thames Valley and Surrey forces, which has cut truck crime around Heathrow by 70% and has recovered£110m worth of stolen goods with 104 arrests.
There was also good news from Operation Indicate, which has slashed truck crime in the West Midlands by 51% since its launch lastJune,DCI Carl Foulkes from Operation Indicate attributes this to increased police activity, We have become more proactive in looking at truck crime and co-ordinating with the other regional forces.
Regular meetings -We have previously been criticised by victims for not updating them on our actions, but have taken this on board.We now hold regular meetings with our partners in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia, The Central Motorway Police Group and ei;;Ais The National Criminal Intelligence Service. We have itroduced minimum investgation standards across all the forces to ensure that operators receive consistent levels of support."
However, there are fears over the future of this fledgling anti-truck crime unit after West Midlands police announced a review of its progress.Superintendent Andy Bebbington denies Indicate will go the same way as the regional initiative Operation Coppergold, which was shut down, but this does not seem to have alleviated operators' worries (CM 26 May).
The success of operations such as Grafton has clearly raised the profile of truck crime on the policing agenda. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur told the conference it plans to invest further in the unit, making it the Met's fifth flying squad.
"We will invest around £2m to make this a permanent team," he explained. -As the fifth Flying Squad it will be able to look at the movement of freight and start to look at this across London. Operation Grafton will also now have new skills such as the power to seize assets from criminals. It will also be able to use its intelligence to raise awareness of truck crime and make it stay both a national and international issue."
But it's not all good news. The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) recently concluded its Road Crime Freight Project and reported its findings to the Association of Chief Police Officers. The report confirmed that truck crime is carried out by highly organised groups.
The NCIS hopes this will provide police forces and other enforcement agencies with intelligence enabling them to take a more proactive approach to truck crime. It's clear that truck crime involves more than having curtains slashed in a lay-by; it's often linked to other serious crimes such as drug smuggling, fire arms and money laundering.
These issues can have a devastating impact on the UK economy, which should push truck crime up the political agenda.The NCIS recommends that one of the best ways to do this would be to incorporate TruckPol into the new 'Serious Organised Crime Agency'.
But this is likely to be rejected because the unit will be revenue making, teaming up with Customs & Excise to concentrate on 'Level 3' crime. This includes the smuggling of illegal immigrants, guns and drugs and other crimes where criminals' assets can be seized.
However, DS Mark Hooper from TruckPol remains confident that his unit will be expanded. "Truck crime has a terrible impact on the transport industry, but in terms of numbers it still accounts for less than 1% of vehicle crime so police management do not see it as a priority.
Warehouse burglaries "But I am optimistic that it will eventually be put into a unit which involves the whole area of crime against businesses such as warehouse burglaries, and not just stolen vehicle and curtain slashing in lay-bys." In any case,can operators accuse the police c getting their priorities wrong when 98% c crimes investigated by Operation Grafton in volved insiders?
Despite warnings, many operators continu to ignore basic security advice — carelessness i still a contributory factor in the theft of the si or seven trucks stolen every day. In one polio area in November and December 2004, half o all the vehicle thefts investigated were the re stilt of keys left in the vehicle.
"Operators are always moaning that the: have poor margins," says Hooper. "And with whole host of other costs such as the WTD worry about,paying for security is not top of tit( list. But there are a number of simple steps the could take, which cost nothing." (see panel).
Hooper stresses the importance of operatori continuing to co-operate with the police anc providing them with information.
"The relationship between police and industry has definitely improved and operators are giving us more information which we can act upon," he says.
"But we need this to carry on if we are going to continue to bring the figures down."
The relationship between the police and the road transport industry has never been an easy one. Working together to raise police awareness of the effect this has on the industry seems to be the only way forward. •