Stolen sportscars including top of the range Porsche, on display after special Police operation.

Express & Star

The West Mids Police Crime Commissioner has funded a special Police operation, targeting the theft of sportscars and luxury vehicles. Cars that have been taken back were on display today.

Transcript

00:00Okay, this is Adam Smith for the Express-A-Star. We're here with the West Midlands Police and

00:04Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, in the middle of a sea of cars which is part of the PCC's

00:15new project to try and combat car thieves, which is a big problem. How much of a problem

00:21is it in the West Midlands, Simon? Well, it has been a significant challenge in recent times.

00:27I'm pleased to say that the most recent ONS stats that were published a week or so ago have

00:35resulted in a 10% reduction in vehicle crime in the West Midlands. That's welcome, but we're not

00:42remotely complacent because one victim of vehicle crime is one too many and that's one of the

00:49reasons why I've been investing and supporting in this project with West Midlands Police.

00:56Which is all about increasing the capacity of West Midlands Police to recover stolen vehicles

01:02in the West Midlands. And you can see here some examples of the vehicles that have been

01:08recovered by West Midlands Police. This project started back in May 2024 and since then West

01:16Midlands Police have recovered over 200 vehicles and that's to a total market value of about £1.8

01:23million. And since the 16th of January, over a period of 16 days, West Midlands Police have

01:30recovered 27 vehicles with a total market value of £527,000. So you can see that the work that's

01:39going on with this particular project that I've been investing in is certainly showing resource.

01:45How sophisticated are these car thieves and how big of a crime network does it feed into?

01:55Well many of these vehicles that you see here today that have been recovered from criminals,

02:01many of these criminals are involved in organised crime groups. So there is a degree of sophistication

02:07around the way in which they are operating and that indeed is part of the challenge for West

02:13Midlands Police. That's why we need this proactive policing operations. We need to use the intelligence

02:19that's available working with the DVLA for example and using advanced technology to track and locate

02:27these vehicles so that they can be recovered, so that we can disrupt the organised crime groups

02:34and bring these offenders to justice. And how is the scheme helping the police

02:43recover these vehicles so quickly? I take it they give them back to their owners

02:47as quickly as possible? Well that depends on the circumstances. They may be returned to the owners

02:51in some instances the owners will have had insurance payouts on these vehicles already

02:56so they will go back to the insurance company and the insurance company will doubtless use it to

03:00recover some of their funds paid out as part of the insurance claim. So it depends on the

03:07circumstances but what the investment I'm providing is giving to West Midlands Police

03:14is some additional capacity in order to be able to investigate vehicle crime, recover these

03:21vehicles that have been stolen and yes either return them to their owners and bring offenders

03:26to justice or indeed ensure that the insurance companies are able to have some return on the

03:32funds that they've already paid out as part of an insurance claim. Does that mean the money that the

03:36PCC's investment meaning that there's police that can be dedicated to this crime over a certain

03:42amount of time? Yeah so it's paying some additional policing time to be able to ensure that they can

03:48dedicate and commit their time to this particular project that's operating within West Midlands

03:53Police yes. Have you got any advice for car owners? So what I would say for owners of cars is that in

04:01the West Midlands we are absolutely committed to constant and unremitting action to prevent and

04:07tackle vehicle crime. West Midlands Police are taking serious this particular crime type.

04:16We're doing all we can to prevent and tackle vehicle crime in the West Midlands. You can see

04:20an example of that particular project here it means more investment for example in the roads

04:25crime team in the West Midlands. It's investing in projects like this we've seen from the most

04:30recent ONS stats that were published a week or so ago that there's been an over 10 percent reduction

04:35in vehicle crime so I think that illustrates just how seriously myself as Police and Crime

04:41Commissioner and West Midlands Police are taking vehicle crime in the West Midlands. And in the

04:45black country it's not just a case of these thieves just stealing a car from outside someone's house

04:49they're breaking into people's homes to get the keys so it's more than just car crime that you're

04:55combating because home evasion is one of the worst crimes anyone can suffer. Absolutely and that's

05:01exactly why we have to ensure that we're doing all we can within our power to tackle vehicle

05:07crime in the West Midlands and I'm holding West Midlands Police to account working with the Chief

05:11Constable working with West Midlands Police and partners for example the DVLA to make sure that

05:16we're doing all we can to prevent and tackle vehicle crime promote community safety and keep

05:21people, families, local businesses and communities safe and secure in the West Midlands. Thanks a lot Simon, we appreciate it.

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