Cumbria Constabulary is taking part in a national ‘day of action’ against metal theft on Wednesday 11 November along with other forces across the UK.
As one of the top performing police forces in the country, Cumbria aims to dedicate the day to visiting scrap metal dealers and conducting increasing numbers of stop checks on vehicles across the county to raise awareness and identify and deter offenders.
Throughout the day, officers will be working with partner agencies to tackle the issue and will engage with scrap metal dealers so that they can play their part in driving the numbers of metal thefts down across Cumbria. Officers will also be out and about to test scrap metal for the presence of Smartwater – an invisible marker that ‘tags’ property with details of it’s rightful owner.
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Forrester said: “We are pleased to support this national day of action and hope that members of the public will support us in coming forward to report suspicious vehicles or individuals.
“Metal theft can be a profitable business and we want communities to be confident that we are doing all we can to target these criminals. Theft of common metals such as piping can cause a real disruption for vital everyday services such as water, gas and electricity and can have a negative impact on our communities.
“The high visibility operation that is planned as part of our policing pledge will send offenders a strong message about the robust approach we adopt towards reports of this crime – it simply won’t be tolerated.”
Between January 2007 and November 2009 there have been 185 metal theft crimes across South Cumbria, 50 of those took place in 2009. Officers in the South of the county have been working on a successful multi-agency policing operation dubbed ‘Operation Statute’, which was launched last year to tackle a series of metal thefts in the area.
Over the last twelve months, officers involved in the operation have been working with partners such as the local Council and Environmental Health, to regulate scrap metal dealers and educate them on the legalities around carrying scrap metal. Since the operation began, there has been a surge in the number of applications for waste carrier licences – a legal requirement if you are carrying legitimate scrap metal.
Sergeant Paul Madden who has been leading the operation said: “We launched this operation in response to the number of reports we were receiving about the theft of metals including radiators and piping in South Cumbria.
“We’re pleased to see that there has been a massive uptake in the number of applications that the Environment Agency receive for waste carrier licences since Operation Statue began. This, along with the commitment of those involved and the amount of awareness we’ve generated amongst the local community, has significantly reduced the reports of metal theft we receive.”
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