Vertical Markets

Metal rail op

by msecadm4921

Patrols of the railways, visits to scrap metal recyclers and delivering of cable theft awareness leaflets marked the latest effort against metal theft on Monday, 14 May, and Tuesday, 15 May. The aim: to restrict opportunities for thieves to sell on stolen metal. Over the two days, officers, working with a number of other agencies, including Home Office forces, Network Rail, the Environment Agency and BT Openreach, British Transport Police (BTP) visited 40 scrap metal recyclers.

 

 

Preventative patrols were also carried out on railway lines, by day and night. Cable theft awareness leaflets were distributed to houses in hotspot areas, and known cable offenders were also paid a visit by officers.

 

Detective Inspector Stuart Mellish, of BTP, said: “Metal theft is an extremely serious crime which affects all communities in some way. Whether thieves target the railway, community buildings, war memorials or people’s homes, their activity always results in disruption for local people.

 

“Scrap metal recyclers are often unwitting victims too as the thieves look to sell on the stolen metal. Sadly it is not always possible for the recyclers to tell if metal has been obtained through lawful practices and they can end up paying money in good faith for stolen metal which is later confiscated by police in operations such as the one carried out today.”

 

Inspector Mellish added: “We are working closely with scrap metal dealers throughout the North East to educate them about what to look out for when people bring metal into their yards.

 

“These efforts were bolstered earlier year with the launch of Operation Tornado across the area, which requires those selling scrap metal to participating dealers to provide proof of their identity – either a photo card driving licence including an address, or a passport or national ID card supported by a utility bill, which must be under three months old and show their address.

 

“Operation Tornado is one of a number of measures currently being explored to restrict the sale and movement of stolen metal. It has been designed not to inhibit those dealers that operate legitimate businesses, but to remove unscrupulous dealers who operate outside the law”.

 

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Pacey of British Transport Police added: “Metal theft remains one of the greatest threats facing the rail infrastructure of Great Britain. We have seen reductions in the number of offences recorded in some areas, but this is against a backdrop of record levels of offending in recent months.

 

“The impact of the thefts is also still being felt by thousands of commuters who have to face significant delays and cancellations.”

 

ACC Pacey added: “BTP, colleagues from local police forces and partner agencies have been working tirelessly to tackle metal theft and there is no doubt we are having an effect. New legislation and national initiatives such as Operation Tornado will assist in the coming months as we seek to drive down the number of thefts and put those responsible for damaging our infrastructure before the courts – in the past few months convicted metal thieves have been jailed for a total of more than 58 years thanks to British Transport Police investigations.”

 

For example in Wakefield police visited ten scrap metal dealers in the area as well as stopping vehicles on roads approaching them. A ‘Metal Watch’ scheme has begun in the Wakefield district as has security marking of items such as metal pipes and central heating installations in Wakefield and District Housing properties on a Knottingley estate as a deterrent.  Division Sgt Dan Tillett said: “The work that we are doing through Metal Watch and partnerships is clearly working and scrap metal dealers are tightening up their practices on our advice. This in itself is an achievement and the support from scrap metal dealers has been really encouraging, we are beginning to forge strong relationships that will assist us to tackle metal theft. Members of the public who are visiting scrap metal dealers should be aware that they need to provide  photograpic ID at point of sale and if selling a vehicle for scrap a V5 is required as proof of ownership.”

 

And 59 scrap metal dealers signed up to a new Greater Manchester Police scheme to combat metal theft by requiring anyone selling scrap metals to provide photo ID. 

 

The initiative has been introduced by Greater Manchester Police’s Operation Alloy team, set up nine months ago to stem an increase in metal theft.  So far high impact raids on suspected scrap yards and roadside operations targeting vehicles being used to transport stolen metals have helped reduce this crime by half but officers are keen to keep the pressure on metal thieves and reduce it further.

 

This level of enforcement to disrupt criminal activity continued on May 8 with roadside operations stopping 229 vehicles. This resulted in 11 vehicles being seized for insurance related and other offences and 103 Fixed Penalty Notices being issued. 

 

Officers are keen to reinforce these robust policing tactics with partnership work with scrap metal dealers to close down opportunities for thieves to profit from crime. They have urged dealers to adopt the new scheme that will require anyone offering scrap metal for sale to provide photo identification that could include a photo card driving licence, passport or national ID card supported by a recent utility bill that includes their address.

 

Officers say that this will make it harder for metal thieves to off load stolen goods and help them track suspect materials. It will also help safeguard scrap dealers from becoming involved in illegal activity.

 

The scheme was also adopted yesterday by the other four police force areas in the north west and follows on from the success of similar schemes introduced by British Transport Police in other parts of the country. 

 

Supt Craig Thompson who is leading GMP’s fight against metal theft said: “Under Operation Alloy we have been targeting metal theft at a number of levels that include arresting metal thieves and taking action against scrap dealers who support them by turning a blind eye and failing to keep complete records of transactions.

 

“We have also been targeting criminal activity associated with metal theft that includes benefit fraud, using unlicensed, untaxed and unroadworthy vehicles and flouting health and safety regulations.

 

“However we do accept that most scrap dealers want to earn an honest living and have been helping them to adopt work practices that will prevent them supporting crime. 

 

“This ID scheme is one such example. It is fair to say that we would seriously question why an honest scrap dealer would not want to sign up and also that we will be monitoring participants to ensure that they are complying with the agreement. Metal theft causes physical, emotional and financial pain to ordinary law-abiding citizens and we are determined to stamp it out.” 

 

Likewise, Lancashire Police officers have been visiting all of the county’s scrap metal yards to ask them to sign up to the Operation Tornado scheme. When a customer then visits these participating dealers looking to sell scrap metal in return for actual cash  they will be required to provide proof of their identity – a photo card driving licence including an address, or a passport or national ID card supported by a utility bill, which must be under three months old and show their address. This information will be stored by the business for a minimum of 12 months and will be made available to police and partner agencies on request.

 

Officers will be returning to these premises to ascertain which dealers have agreed to sign up to this new service level agreement. Dealers who refuse to comply will leave themselves susceptible to future targeting and enforcement if suspected of criminality. In Lancashire schools, churches and other community buildings have all been targeted by thieves; even brass inserts and tops of flower holders from grave head stones. Lancashire Police have run a number of operations already this year in a bid to crack down on scrap metal theft.

 

Chief Insp Insp McHugh said: “The Operation Tornado identification scheme is one of a number of initiatives we are carrying out to restrict the sale and movement of stolen metal. It has been designed not to inhibit those dealers that operate legitimate businesses, but to remove unscrupulous dealers who operate outside the law.”

 

Operation Tornado is already in operation across the north east, Yorkshire and Humber, East Midlands and Norfolk and was trialled between January and April in Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland.

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