Major Wolverhampton police operation sees cars, vans and trucks pulled over for checks
Officers on motorcycles prepare to head out on another vehicle call
Officers from Heath Town and East Park Police, working alongside Wolverhampton Council licensing officers and other members of West Midlands Police, spent a day running a multi-agency road safety operation in the city.
The day of action on Tuesday was part of Operation Action, a new policing operation that was starting in Wolverhampton before being rolled out across the West Midlands.
The operation saw officers check the road safety of vehicles and their drivers with help from West Midlands Police Road Harm Prevention Team, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
It was a protected day for the police to go out and police the roads, with people being stopped and brought into an area to be inspected by officers, as well as cars being targeted by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology.
There was a steady stream of vehicles coming into the inspection area, including vans, taxis and trucks, and drivers were being advised on things such as tinted windows and low washer fluid levels.
Sergeant Nick Clarke from Heath Town and East Park Policing team said it was about following an old policing ethos of denying criminals the use of the road.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Welstead chats with officers as he oversees the operation
He said: “The roads are places being used by criminals, as well as normal people going about their daily business and the reason we do these operations is because we’ve got ANPR technology which will point us towards particular vehicles.
“We’ve also got police officers with local knowledge who know who to look for, who the people are causing us the most trouble and a stop site where when we get such things, we’ve got sufficient officers that we can allocate to deal with it.
“What we find is where people are quite happy to flout road traffic law it becomes a gateway to do other things, such as a bald tire leading to someone being arrested for skipping court or a criminal offence or not having insurance or changing cars frequently to avoid detection.
“Doing these sites helps our officers to keep their skills current in all the areas they do, while also show the public that there are a lot of us as they sometimes forget we are around and show that, when we need to, we can muster people together.”
The day’s work was be overseen by Assistant Chief Constable Matt Welstead, who said he was very pleased with the message being put out.
He said: “It’s all about public safety and you can see the focus of road safety and doing it in a way to really support the people of the West Midlands.
“What’s been really impressive is that while this is a one-off operation today to focus on road safety, with other operations taking place each week and making an impact through seeing how many vehicles were pulling over and being checked.
“What you are seeing is West Midlands Police really stepping up and making sure we keep the whole community safe and reassured and make people feel safe in their homes.”