Police officers from around Europe have joined forces with UK officers in order to try and tackle foreign criminals in Britain. Officers from Romania, Lithuania, and the Netherlands are helping to trace offenders on the UK road network alongside UK officers.
The operation is similar to Operation Trivium, which took place last October and led to the arrest of more than 1,000 criminals. It not only means additional police on the streets, and the potential for identifying ways in which foreign gangs and criminals work, but it also gives UK police access to foreign crime databases. Moves have been made to share data across borders on a long-term basis but, for now, these joint operations offer a convenient means of identifying, locating, and arresting criminals across the country that may have otherwise got away with it.
The operation primarily utilises details of foreign cars, and especially those that are believed to be linked to crimes. Europol has released details of thousands of cars that fit this bill, and the joint task force consisting of bobbies from around Europe will use these details as well as their own expertise to help track down the owners, and potentially bring them to justice. Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems are being used to automatically identify the cars that have been highlighted as a potential problem.
Trivium has become a regular occurrence, and it does continue to generate results, but police are keen to point out that it is not targeting the communities that people are from, but the individuals that are believed to have committed crimes. The fourth Operation Trivium will take place between 22nd and 28th June, and police hope it will yield similar results to last year’s operation.
Last year, 7,151 vehicles were stopped in all. 555 of these vehicles were seized, 1,073 people were arrested for non-motoring related offences and an additional 3,458 people were given spot fines for driving offences and motoring related offences. The operation has been hailed as a success not only in capturing those that are guilty of crimes including trafficking and drug smuggling, but also in cooperative policing efforts between forces from across borders.
