Op Galaxy: Putting crime fighting into top gear

Message from Humberside Police.

If you thought all the officers out on our roads are there to deal with traffic offences – think again.

Our dedicated Road Crime Team spend their time targeting some of the most serious criminals as they travel around the area.

From organised crime groups, to those involved in drug dealing, burglary and sexual offences, the unit work alongside our teams across the force, preventing suspects from coming in or leaving the area.

They’re playing a key role in Operation Galaxy, swooping on suspects’ vehicles, making arrests and seizing drugs, co-ordinating with officers on the streets conducting warrants and hunting suspects.

And thanks to the unique way the team works, most never even see them coming.

Sergeant Will Knapp, who leads the Road Crime Team, said: “We use the information that we and other teams gather, along with information from neighbouring forces, to plan intelligence led, targeted strikes.

“We build up details about the vehicles suspects use, where and when key people are likely to be on the roads and what they are likely to have in the vehicles at any given time.

“We then use this to decide when to target these vehicles in order to get the best possible results and minimise any risk to the wider public.”

These strikes are carried out by the whole unit, who use a mixture of marked and unmarked cars to surround their targets before they realise what’s happening, minimising the risk of becoming involved in a pursuit or the suspects getting away on foot.

And although the unit has only been in place for six months, it’s proving to be very successful.

Sgt Knapp said: “We have access to high-powered cars and cutting edge technology, such as mobile finger print recognition, which means when we carry out an operation we’re likely to get results.

“I know sometimes people get frustrated when they have reported things like drug dealing to us and it appears that we’ve not acting on it.

“But just because you have not seen us at the address doesn’t mean we have not targeted the people responsible – it may be that to make the biggest difference we have to take a different approach.

“In some cases, this might be my team targeting the offenders bringing drugs into the area or moving cash or weapons around.

“As a result of stops we have carried out in the last six months we’ve made more than 70 arrests, seized class A drugs worth approximately £190,000, £75,000 in cash, cannabis with a street value of £39,000, as well as weapons and ammunition.

“I believe that one of the reasons for our success is the wide range of skills we have in the team.

“We have officers like me, who have a background in traffic, who are able to use that knowledge to spot traffic violations that can give us a reason to pull suspect vehicles over and gather intelligence.

“We also have a police dog working with us at all times to assist with searches and arrests, as well as experts in analysing intelligence and ANPR to help us plan our operations.

“It’s great to know that we’re helping to protect the people who live and work in Northern Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire and make our communities safer.

“The work we do targets the people who cause the most harm and we hope that word is now getting around that Humberside is not a place where you can get away with it.”

For all the latest news from Operation Galaxy, sign up for My Community Alert and follow our @Humberbeat Facebook and Twitter accounts.

If you’re concerned about crime in your area let us know. You can speak to your local team, call our non-emergency 101 line or direct message us via Facebook and Twitter.

If you would rather not give your name, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111