Staffordshire Police are working with representatives from other European police forces as part of an international operation to catch criminals from other parts of Europe hiding out in the UK. The weeklong operation, codenamed Operation Trivium, takes place from Monday 22 June to Saturday 27 June and there will be opportunities for local media to join the police on their operations in Staffordshire.
The Staffordshire operation, which is part of a wider operation involving all 43 UK police forces, will involve the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) – a joint initiative between Staffordshire, West Midlands and West Mercia police forces – using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to trawl the Midland’s major road networks, reading licence plates and, acting on intelligence about criminals wanted on European Arrests warrants, carrying out road stops and checks on cars. Raids on addresses linked to suspects will also take place among a range of other activities.
The criminals targeted are usually part of highly organised gangs that use the UK’s road network to travel from area to area in an attempt to avoid detection. They could be wanted for and/or involved in crimes ranging from large scale shoplifting, burglary, vehicle theft and exportation, drug supply and importation, money laundering/fraud/tax evasion, immigration offences, human trafficking, modern slavery and prostitution, violent assaults and/or child sexual exploitation among other things.
This is the fourth time the highly successful Operation Trivium has taken place and we are hoping to replicate the success of previous operations. Last year’s Operation Trivium saw more than 1,000 offenders arrested across the UK, including 30 people on European arrest warrants. Many were jailed and/or extradited to face trial in their own countries.
Inspector Mat Derrick, part of Staffordshire Police’s Tactical Support team, says: “It’s not about targeting people from particular countries or communities, it’s about targeting criminals. We will be working on intelligence provided by police forces outside the UK to target people who have committed crimes in other parts of Europe and who have then come to the UK hoping to avoid arrest in their own country and to continue their criminal activities here. As well as catching criminals during the week itself, operations like this often enable us to get leads into other offences we can chase up in the future and are a great example of multiple agencies working together.”
The operation will involve a multi-agency intelligence hub that will house the combined expertise of Europol, the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG), the Highways Agency, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP)and Home Office Immigration Enforcement Officers.
As well as being able to run checks on people and vehicles through Europol and the National Crime Agency (NCA), the assistance of our European counterparts will enable us to carry out real-time checks on their national police systems from the hub to establish if the people stopped as part of the operation are wanted for crimes in their home countries.
To keep up to date on the operation you can follow the dedicated Twitter Feed – https://twitter.com/staffspolice#OpTrivium
