Public encouraged to report suspicious vehicles to Crimestoppers

Officers working within Northamptonshire Police’s Intelligence Bureau are encouraging members of the public to report suspicious vehicles to Crimestoppers.

The Force’s ANPR network has more than doubled in recent years and officers would like to utilise this resource as much as possible by asking members of the public to get in touch with details of suspicious vehicles that they feel officers need to look out for.

ANPR - Automatic Number Plate Recognition - reads the registration of passing vehicles and checks them across several databases, raising the alert if a vehicle is stolen or linked to crime.

Just over 150 new cameras have been installed in the past couple of years, increasing coverage across rural areas and major towns as well as on the county borders.

Field Intelligence Sergeant, Tom Griffin, said: “Our ANPR network has more than doubled in Northamptonshire in recent years, giving us a huge capability in tackling criminals who would look to use the roads to carry out their crimes.

“However, whilst we of course collect intelligence on suspicious vehicles ourselves, we would also ask the community to be our eyes on the ground and report anything out of place that they see to either ourselves or to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

“You can do this completely anonymously as we don’t need to know who you are, just what you know. If you think any vehicles you see are connected to drug dealing, organised crime, anti-social behaviour or any other offences, please do get in contact.”

Data and information collected by ANPR cameras is only used in the prevention and detection of crime and in some cases, to safeguard vulnerable adults.