POLICE at Warrington today joined forces with officers from across the North West in a large scale operation to crackdown on criminals who use the road networks to commit offences or engage in anti social behaviour.
Warrington and Widnes was one area being targeted by Cheshire Police as part of Operation Big Wing.
Police from Mersey, Lancashire and
North Wales were also involved in the operation, along with British Transport Police, Mersey Tunnel Police, Port of Liverpool Police and the North West Motorway Police Group
The intelligence-led strike targeted travelling criminals using the regions’ roads, motorways, railways and ports.
Locally, police were using technology such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) that recognises stolen vehicles and can pinpoint illegal vehicles.
The main focus of this part of the operation was to detect and deter those motorists driving unlawfully, and those who use the roads to carry out crimes such as burglary and car crime.
Officers were also using a new mobile fingerprint detection device, giving them the ability to establish a persons’ identity within seconds.
Cars without valid road fund licences, MOT or insurance were being towed away and those driving unlawfully without licences were being dealt with robustly and have their cars removed, according to a police spokesman.
The high visibility operation was designed to ensure the strong arm of the law was felt by criminals and would-be offenders across the region, and that motorists travelling on Cheshire’s roads could continue to do so safely.
Superintendent Guy Hindle, overseeing the Cheshire part of the operation said: “This is a standard policing operation made slightly further reaching by it being cross border, involving other forces.
“We are always proactively using our resources and technology to arrest criminals and deal with offenders appropriately, but during Operation Big Wing, the public are far more likely to notice our activity. The aim is quite simply to make our communities safer by targeting those who seek to harm or exploit them”.
