Officers from the West Yorkshire ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) Intercept Team helped crack down on travelling criminals through the region last week, making 15 arrests and seizing 17 cars including a Ferrari.

The joint operation which took place on Friday (14/5), targeted the West Yorkshire region, was made up of officers from West Yorkshire Police’s Operations Support Division, North Yorkshire Police, South Yorkshire Police, Humberside Police and the Regional Roads Policing Team.

Officers from Bradford South and North West Leeds Division supported the operation as part of their ongoing efforts to target burglars travelling between Bradford and Leeds to commit crime.

Each were deployed to focused areas covering Killinghall Road, Leeds Road and Barkerend Road areas in Bradford as well as the A650 corridor and Holmewood areas.

Using ANPR, officers scanned hundreds of passing vehicles to check them against information stored on police databases to identify stolen vehicles or those involved in crime.

As a result, they stopped in excess of 193 vehicles which resulted in 15 arrests in relation to a variety of offences including drugs offences, disqualified driving and theft of a motor vehicle.  17 vehicles were seized including a Ferrari Modena worth in excess of £90,000.  21 fixed penalty tickets for motoring offences were also issued. 

Inspector Joanne Field, of Operations Support Division Roads Policing, said: “ANPR provides us with a fantastic tool that is assisting us to target criminals through their use of the roads. By working with our Regional colleagues we are demonstrating that we can all work together to fight crime. I would like to send out a clear message to those criminals that bring misery to our communities that wherever you are in our region, you’ll need to be looking over your shoulder. The public should be confident that ANPR technology will ensure that the roads are a safer place”.

Since October last year Inspector Field has headed up the dedicated ANPR Intercept Team which works full time to deal with vehicles that are spotted by ANPR. To the end of April this year, the Team has been responsible for 227 arrests, seized 472 vehicles (with a value of £1,322,965) and seized drugs and property worth £110,665.