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Second day of action in metal theft crackdown
SCRAP metal thieves were being targeted in a police operation in Horncastle on Friday.
Checkpoints were set up around the town in a bid to catch those attempting to transport stolen hoards to be weighed in at the two scrapyards in Hemingby Lane.
News reporter Alison Sandilands accompanied officers to see what was found.
I was at the busy checkpoint on the A158. The other two checkpoints were set up at West Ashby and High Toynton.
Within two minutes a truck full of scrap was pulled over, but everything was legitimate.
I asked how the vehicles were selected and was told how a spotter was stationed further down the road at each of the checkpoints, in order to feed intelligence to the officers.
Placed in vehicles with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), the spotters were able to inform of any possible suspects to pick out amongst oncoming traffic.
Instructions came through on the radio in the van where one officer constantly remained behind the wheel incase it was necessary to give chase.
There was a lot of waiting around in between inspections.
At one point, three white vans were pulled over at the same time and it seemed more possible that something would happen.
But they were all above board.
As the day went on and more cars and vans came and went, it was looking like it was going to be a slow day.
Then there was news that an arrest had been made at the West Ashby checkpoint.
This was in connection with the theft of a steel disc cutter that had been rented and not returned.
Sergeant Alisdair Booth said the operation was an important deterrent.
He said: “We can never measure what we have prevented. It’s giving a visible message that we are out to get metal thieves.
“It’s a national problem. The value of scrap metal is going up and there are always opportunists.
“Some people are going to great lengths to steal scrap metal from railway lines and churches.”
Later in the day, a vehicle was pulled over after being flagged up by the ANPR for being connected to past drug offences.
The vehicle and its two occupants were searched, but nothing was found and they went on their way.
Police were joined on the day by benefit fraud investigators from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and agents from the Environment Agency, on the look out for unregistered waste carriers.
DWP fraud investigator, Sarah Richardson, said they were searching for those working that should not be because they were claiming benefits.
She said: “We have to show that they are in work. We won’t be able follow it up on the spot but hopefully this information can be used in an investigation.”
While she explained it is a usually a longshot that anybody would be caught in the act, there was one lead found at the High Toynton checkpoint which could be used to build a case against somebody for benefit fraud.
By the end of the day, no more arrests had been made.
At the last operation of this kind back in October, 2011, there were three arrests.
Both of these days were organised under Operation Albay - part of the ongoing Operation Brompton.
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Weather for Horncastle
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North
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