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Operation Snap has been set up to help keep our county’s roads as safe as possible.
It allows members of the public to report driving offences in the Northamptonshire area by filling out a form and uploading video evidence they have captured.
Submitted footage and reports are then examined by roads policing officers and can be used to take action against drivers found to be breaking the law.
Northamptonshire Police will investigate the following offences through Operation Snap:
Operation Snap can’t be used to report road traffic collisions. You can submit reports of road traffic incidents here.
Please note that if you submit a report through Operation Snap you must be willing to attend court to give evidence, should the case go that far. Any footage submitted through Operation Snap must not be placed on social media as this may affect any subsequent legal proceedings.
Please read these frequently asked questions before submitting your footage.
Northamptonshire Police will investigate offences of:
There are a number of disposal methods available, depending on the nature of any identified offence. The driver could:
The footage and statement will have been reviewed by a warranted police officer who will take all factors into consideration, including current Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) charging standards.
When our police officers review your submitted footage they are duty bound to also review the manner of your driving, and the manner in which the footage was obtained. For example, if you were exceeding the speed limit in order to catch up with an offending driver and then proceeded to film them with your mobile phone whilst driving, then officers will consider also taking action against you. Don't break the law to incriminate other drivers.
Cyclists and horse riders are vulnerable road users. Where appropriate, and providing a road traffic offence has been committed, we will take action if someone’s driving puts them at risk. If you have video footage of a close pass on either a cyclist or a horse and rider, please fill in the web form for Operation Snap Northamptonshire.
You can find out more about Operation Close Pass here.
Officers will deal with all matters of careless riding/cycling as best they can. It’s vital to remember that the vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and horse riders are at much greater risk of serious injury and death than those in cars. Our priority should always be to protect those most vulnerable.
Evidence will be accepted in the form of video footage. You must consider whether the footage you have will be sufficient for the officers to investigate and prosecute an offence. For example, if you claim a vehicle travelled through a red traffic light, we need to be able to see that the relevant light was on red.
Yes. As part of the criminal justice process, and in order to allow officers to deal with an offender in an appropriate manner, you will be required to provide a statement. However, this is completed online and most of the statement will be completed as a result of you answering some simple pre-formatted questions in the submission form.
The types of offence which Northamptonshire Police deal with generally have a six-month time limit for prosecutions. Officers also have an obligation to inform the offending driver of the offence which they have committed, usually within 10 days of the incident. Please make your submissions as soon as possible after an incident. If more than 10 days have passed, please still submit your evidence as our officers may still be able to take action.
Ideally the date and time should be correct. The video footage is used to support your written witness testimony. Your witness statement must clearly state what time/date the incident occurred. You must account for any discrepancies in date/time within the evidence you present to us.
No. We cannot enhance recorded footage. If you are unable to read the vehicle number plate from the original clip, then officers are unlikely to be able to read it when they replay the footage. If the registration number cannot be read, we are unlikely to be able to take action as a result of your submission.
No, the device you use to record the offence will not be taken from you.
It will be your responsibility to ensure that the original footage is saved in its original format dependant on how it is stored on your recording device. This could be, for example, on the internal memory of the device or perhaps on an external storage medium such as an SD card.
No. The police do not replace memory cards or devices with similar items in any circumstances.
At present, Northamptonshire Police can only accept video footage through Operation Snap. We need this to be able to see the offence from start to finish. We may also need to see more of your journey so that officers can understand the context of what happened.
No. We can only accept dashcam footage submitted through Operation Snap.
If you are planning to submit a report through Operation Snap, please remove the footage from social media. CPS advice is that your footage should not be in the public domain as this may adversely affect any subsequent proceedings. Please fill in the Northamptonshire Police web form and start the Operation Snap process with us.
The footage you submit, along with your statement, will be stored securely on a cloud server.
The information which you submit will generally be retained for a period of two years, or at least until the conclusion of any legal proceedings.
The evidence which you provide to Northamptonshire Police (your digital media footage and accompanying statement) will be reviewed by an experienced police officer. They will firstly establish if an offence has been committed and then, if it has, will identify the specific offence. The information will then be used to move the process to the next stage, with certain paperwork sent to the driver of the offending vehicle.
The offending driver will not be provided with your details. However, on the rare occasion that a reported offence results in a court appearance, then at this stage the offending driver will become aware of your name, but not your address or any other personal details.
Northamptonshire Police will provide feedback to advise witnesses if their submission has been accepted for prosecution or marked for no further action. This feedback will be available as part of a monthly data export published on the Safer Roads Public Access System.
All submissions are reviewed by experienced traffic officers who will make a decision based on the evidential points to prove for an offence and the public interest test. This decision is final and not subject to review or appeal.
On average, only one to two per cent of all reported offences result in a court appearance. There are other ways a case can be dealt with, for example a person may have to attend a driver improvement course or accept a fixed penalty notice.
If the offence which you report does require a court appearance, you will be fully supported through the process.
We need your statement to take action. Officers need this detail to fully understand the situation, and people accused of offences have a right to have matters heard in a court of law. Please fill in the web form. We will be in touch if you are required to attend court and can support you through the process.
Northamptonshire Police regularly receives complaints about dangerous and anti-social driving. We have a robust approach to policing the county’s roads and will take every opportunity to make them safer for everyone.
Operation Snap allows us to effectively deal with dashcam footage in a safe and secure way, whilst making the investigation process simple and straight forward for the police and members of the public. Operation Snap is not asking you to go out and detect offences on behalf of Northamptonshire Police, but we will deal with any you report.
If you have footage of any non-motoring offences, you should contact the relevant authority and provide them with the footage. This generally tends to be the police or the local authority. Non-emergency reports can be made to police by calling 101, or by going online.
Any information provided by you will be treated in strict confidence. The information you provide will be placed on police systems and protected by the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018. For further information about how we use personal data, please see our privacy notice.
Footage submitted to Northamptonshire Police via Operation Snap may be used for media/training/publication purposes.