TruckPol could close by end of March

TruckPol has revealed to Commercialmotor.com that it faces closure by the end of March if additional funding cannot be secured.

The national freight crime intelligence unit, which was created in 2003, has relied on private industry sponsorship since it lost its Home Office grant in April 2011. However, figures from its latest financial year reveal a significant shortfall in the funding necessary to keep the organisation running.

DS Sue Coutts, head of TruckPol, explains: “Despite our efforts to encourage new sponsors and identify alternative funding following the withdrawal of our Home Office grant, we have been unsuccessful.”

Chrys Rampley, manager of security at the Road Haulage Association, is urging the government to reinstate the unit’s funding. “We understand the government budget restrictions are severe, but professional thieves are free to roam across counties committing major crime with impunity. To see the demise of this unit would be a catastrophe and set us back 10 years.”

Rampley says she will be writing to crime prevention minister Lord Henley and transport minister Mike Penning to raise the issue.

TruckPol is the only policing resource dedicated to collating and disseminating data and intelligence on UK truck crime, which is estimated to cost the industry as much as £250m a year. TruckPol holds the only national database for stolen freight in the UK