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.
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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.