A specialist police unit dedicated to fighting car crime could expand its remit to tackle criminal activity involving LGVs, setting up a rival service to TruckPol.
The move could see the Association of Chief Police Officers’ Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (AVCIS) logging and sharing details about lorry and load theft, reversing its decision to only concentrate on gathering information on car crime.
Detective superintendent Mark Colley, a supervisor at the AVCIS vehicle fraud unit, told CM the service was “looking to change” its car-only remit, with an announcement due after a meeting of its senior management team.
The re-entry of AVCIS as an LGV crime-tackling agency would be a boost for the haulage industry, but could hamper efforts to re-establish the specialist freight anti-crime initiative TruckPol.
Industry talks to finalise how TruckPol will work are at a crucial stage: negotiations are ongoing between the National Business Crime Intelligence Bureau – the not-for-profit, police-led body that owns and will run TruckPol – and the Road Haulage Association, over how much hauliers will pay to use the service and what they will get for that.
Inspector Richard Stones of Nottinghamshire Police, who has been instrumental in resurrecting TruckPol after its closure, said AVCIS “would be challenged” if it decided to set up a rival service.
He added: “Unless everyone collaborates, we will be operating in silos. The conversations I’ve had with [AVCIS] suggest they recognise the value of collaboration.”
The future of AVCIS was only confirmed itself last year.
