Operation Snap receives more than 260 video submissions in three month period

Northamptonshire Police has released a new video of clips highlighting examples of poor driver behaviour which have been captured on dash-cam footage on the county’s roads.

Officers from the Safer Roads Team have created the short compilation after just under half of video submissions to Operation Snap between August and October, led to further action.

Rolled out across the county in August last year, Operation Snap enables people to report driving offences by uploading video evidence via a simple online portal on the Force website.

In the three month period between August and October, the Force received a total of 264 submissions from 190 individual witnesses, resulting in a total of 100 Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) letters being sent to registered owners.

Driving without due care and attention was the most common offence detected with a total of 39 registered owners sent NIP letters as a result of the dash-cam footage submitted.

Other offences caught on camera ranged from driving dangerously and drivers not being in proper control of a vehicle to overtaking a vehicle on approach to a zebra crossing, ignoring traffic lights and failure to comply with traffic signs.

Northamptonshire Police’s Safer Roads Operations Manager, Matthew O’Connell, said: “As a Force, one of our policing priorities is to reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on our roads, however we cannot do this without the continued support of the public.

“Through the use of Operation Snap, we have thousands of additional pairs of eyes helping us to keep our roads safer and thanks to the public’s support we are able to take action against driving offences we otherwise wouldn’t see.

“As a result of Operation Snap, the chances of getting caught for committing traffic offences has increased, which can only be a good thing, and we hope this serves as an incentive for everyone to use our roads more safely.”

Funded by the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner with the support of the Department for Transport, Operation Snap provides an additional resource to prevent and reduce serious and fatal collisions.

Operation Snap allows motorists to safely and securely upload their dash-cam or phone footage direct and fill out a form which automatically creates a witness statement to provide a full account of the incident.

Reports are then triaged by trained police staff, who check the footage to ensure it falls within the scheme's remit and contains clear views of offenders' number plates so they can be identified.

If they do, police officers in the Safer Roads Team then examine the footage and reports to identify offences and begin legal proceedings where required. The most common reason for a rejected submission is insufficient video evidence to support a prosecution.

Matt added: “Although this service allows people to share evidence of driving offences with us quickly and easily, it’s important to remember that we only have 14 days from when the offence is committed to take appropriate action.

“It's also important to remember we examine footage for evidence of offences by all parties, so please don't break the law in order to report someone else to us, or you could be in trouble as well.”

For more information about Operation Snap or to submit video footage, visit the Northamptonshire Police website at www.northants.police.uk/OpSnap

ENDS