Operation Crossbow: Day of action tackling cross-border crime

Criminals using roads in and around Shropshire have been targeted during a day of action.

Operation Crossbow, which took place on Monday 10 July, is part of ongoing efforts to disrupt criminal activity across the region and deny criminals the use of the roads.

It involved more than 120 officers from West Mercia Police, Cheshire Constabulary, Staffordshire Police, Central Motorway Police Group and British Transport Police. The officers included roads policing, motorcycles, dogs, drones, the Special Constabulary and local policing.

Using a number of tools available, officers were able to target criminals crossing the border between the three counties.

Following a morning joint-force briefing at the Community Soccer Centre in Shavington in Crewe, officers made their way to key locations in their respective forces. Many took up strategic positions, anti-social behaviour hotspots and arterial routes between the counties, while others roamed – ensuring that if there were any drivers or vehicles linked to criminal activity, they would be caught.

In West Mercia, roads policing operations were held on Shropshire routes neighbouring Cheshire, Staffordshire and North Wales boundaries as well as community policing activity in areas including Whitchurch and Market Drayton. Results in West Mercia were:

• 13 Traffic Offence Reports issued for offences including: no MOT, excessive window tints, insecure loads and no seatbelt.
• One arrest for drug driving / possession of a controlled substance
• 38 speeding offences detected
• Two stop searches under misuse of drugs
• Safer neighbourhood team officers also carried out address checks for ‘fail to appear’ warrants and high-visibility public engagement patrols.

The overall results from all forces involved on the day were:

• A suspect wanted for a sexual offence was detained at Crewe Railway Station and arrested
• Working with Crewe Response team 4 suspects arrested for Domestic Abuse.
• 45 Stop & Searches
• 13 Community Resolutions issued (personal possession of drugs)
• Supported locating and resolving 2 High Risk Missing Persons
• Community Engagement at locations identified as ASB ‘hotspots’ in Crewe, Nantwich and Congleton town centres
• 2 vehicles leaving Crewe towards Staffordshire seen ‘acting suspiciously’ on A500 located and stopped using TPAC tactics. Neither vehicle had insurance, both vehicles seized and occupants issued with Yellow Cards.
• 18 vehicles seized for No Insurance
• 205 Roads Traffic Offences dealt with

Chief Superintendent Grant Wills of West Mercia Police said: “Operation Crossbow is a great example of forces working together to target criminality on our roads and it highlights what officers are doing 24/7 to make our counties hostile to those intent on using the road network to commit crime.

“We want to make our roads even safer for law-abiding road users. Our highly visible presence included marked and unmarked policing units, local safer neighbourhood teams and the use of technology such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition to gather intelligence, target offenders and bring them to justice; thereby keeping our communities safe from criminality which causes misery and fear. This targeted focus is business as usual and we will continue to take visible action.”

Chief Inspector John Forshaw of Cheshire Police, who was overseeing the operation, said: “Yesterday’s show of force was to highlight in no uncertain terms that we are out there 24/7 policing your roads and disrupting criminal activity.

“Throughout the operation we used a whole host of tactics to disrupt criminals working in our region, which we use regularly as part of our everyday policing to make life difficult for those who are intent on committing crime.This was a great example of partnership working with another police force, and I’m sure this will have reassured the public that together we are intent on making our counties no go areas for criminals.”

Inspector Mark Joynson of Staffordshire Police, said: “Working collaboratively with other forces on road policing operations like this helps to tackle cross border criminality as well as improve road safety.

“We’ve been sharing valuable intelligence with each other for a number of years now and we’ll continue to crackdown on those committing crimes across our counties. We are pleased with the results today and look forward to taking part in an operation like this again in the near future. In the meantime our officers are out on the roads daily to tackle issues and create a safer road network for our communities.”

Inspector Jayne Lewis from British Transport Police said: "As a specialist police force we are experts at detecting and deterring crime and we work 24/7 to make the railway a hostile environment for criminals and disrupt their activity.

"Partnership working like this with our colleagues from police forces across different counties sends a clear message to criminals that their enterprises will be stopped. Combining our resources means we strengthen our consolidated effort in the fight against crime."