DAY 27: Five men arrested during 100 days of action patrols in Aylesbury

An ANPR operation to tackle metal thefts in Aston Clinton resulted in two arrests yesterday (12/9).

At around 1pm a vehicle was stopped and after searching the vehicle a basket of lead was found. The occupant, a 34 year old man from Watford, Hertfordshire was arrested on suspicion of theft, possession of an offensive weapon and going equipped to commit theft. The man has been released on police bail until the 10 October.

In another part of Aylesbury, four men were arrested during a 4x4 patrol of the rural areas.

While a car was being pursued by police, a bag which was found to contain jewellery and cash was thrown from the car. Once the car had been pulled over, four men, a 38 year-old from Witney, 21 year-old from Edgware Middlesex, 24 year-old from High Wycombe and a 35 year-old from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire were arrested on suspicion of burglary.

The burglary is believed to have taken place at a property in Warwickshire. All four men have been transferred to Warwickshire Police.

The team also visited the villages of Wingrave and Weston Turville and signed up around 100 residents to Thames Valley Alerts.

ANPR operation resulted in four men arrested on suspicion of burglary

Around 18 sites of heritage and churches were also visited and left with specific crime prevention advice.



Visiting heritage sites and churches



A word about heritage crime

Many land owners have ancient monuments and archaeological sites in or near to their property. Any theft or criminal damage involving a monument or archaeological site should be reported to police ASAP. Any work being carried out on a monument without consent can be reported to English Heritage.



Metal detectors

·         The vast majority of metal detector users are law-abiding people and will only detect and search for objects on land where they have the landowner’s permission, however, a landowner cannot give permission for a person to use a metal detector on a scheduled monument.

·         Metal detecting in a specified location without consent could amount to theft.

·         Illegal detecting at night is sometimes known by the term night hawking.

·         Report suspicious incidents to the Thames Valley Police as soon as possible on our non-emergency number 101 or 999 if it is an emergency.  

For further information please visit the National Council for Metal Detecting.

DAY 14 and 15: Multi-agency ANPR operation to tackle metal thefts in Maidenhead

The aim of this operation using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras was to disrupt and prevent crime in the rural area by pulling over vehicles of interest, or those which have been highlighted as ‘used in crime’ previously.

Although the team were specifically on the lookout for vehicles which could be linked with rural crime and in particular, metal thefts (metal theft is often linked to rural crime as stolen agricultural machinery and tools can be sold on illegally as scrap metal), other offences and the offenders are caught during these operations because obviously, you never know who is going to be driving past!

The ‘multi-agency’ bit of the operation came in the form of support from VOSA (with the Environment Agency and Datatag helping out on Day 15). VOSA are able to use specific ‘civil’ powers such as prohibition orders which are used to get dangerous cars and vehicles off the road and keep them off if until they conform to the legal MOT standards.

During the operation, the police team pulled over a car for no insurance which was then seized under Section 165. As VOSA were there too, they carried out checks and were able to put a prohibition order onto the vehicle for two bald tyres and a frayed seatbelt. This means the driver can’t simply drive away an un-roadworthy vehicle once insurance has been sorted out under the Police order.



Car being seized for no insurance and at the same time was put on a prohibition order for being un-roadworthy



The team also pulled over larger, commercial vehicles like Transit vans and flat bed trucks or others which are often used to steal larger farm tools or ferry stolen scrap metal from one place to another. The team set up on the A4 and throughout the day pulled over 18 of these types of vehicles and all appeared to be in order!



Police officer and VOSA making sure all is in order with a flat bed truck