Earlier in 2005, West Midlands Police launched a new system to alert HGV drivers to criminal activity on the roads.
Called Promptext, it allows crime-related messages to be relayed to haulage industry contacts, by a text format to a mobile phone or by a voice message to a land-line. The real time crime message is directed to a nominated number at each industry contact point and the message can then be rolled out to drivers providing them with an extra set of eyes and ears on the road.
Messages can include information on stolen vehicles, crimes in the area and warn of criminal activity. The system is sponsored by Securitas. Promptext has been trialed by the West Midlands Police Operation Indicate team for several months and is now ready to go live.
Operation Indicate is a regional initiative aimed at reducing the number of victims of HGV crime across the Midlands region. The Initiative involves West Midlands, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia police supported by the National Criminal Intelligence Service and Central Police Motorway Group all working together to tackle both hot spot locations and offenders. In addition, members of the public can also use Promptext to forward information to Operation Indicate via a dedicated inbox facility enabling anyone to instantly send information. The number to call with information is 07786 200 218. To report a crime people should still call 999 or their local police station on 0845 113 5000.
What they say
DCI Carl Foulkes from West Midlands Police said: โWhile the number of the HGV offences across the region remains low when compared with the total number of vehicle crimes the cost is disproportionately higher. As such we have worked closely with partner agencies such as the Road Haulage Association, Securitas and have introduced the new Promptext system to work towards making the industry safer.โ
