Fight on metal theft boosted by government funding
2 Jul 2014 11:18 AM
The crackdown on the
illegal trade of metal has been boosted by government funding of
£500,000.
The Home Office and Department
for Transport have agreed to provide further funding for the National Metal
Theft Taskforce. The taskforce develops intelligence, coordinates activity and
targets and disrupts criminal networks - both the thieves and also the criminal
market, including rogue elements of the scrap metal industry.
The funding follows a request
from the British Transport Police, which leads the taskforce, and means the
government has invested more than £6 million in the initiative since it
was launched in January 2012. The latest funding, which runs to the end of
September this year, will allow the taskforce to continue its hugely successful
programme of coordinated national days of action.
Arrests
These targeted operations
against unscrupulous scrap metal dealers, in conjunction with police and local
agencies, have so far resulted in more than 1,000 arrests for theft and related
offences and police have seized more than 600 vehicles involved in
criminality.
Crime Prevention Minister Norman
Baker said:
The coalition government has
made it harder than ever before for metal thieves to prosper and our £6
million investment in the National Metal Theft Taskforce is reaping
rewards.
Alongside our reforms to ban
cash payments and regulate the scrap metal trade, the taskforce has helped to
make it much more difficult for thieves and unscrupulous dealers to profit from
crime.
This additional government
funding will enable the taskforce to continue its programme of coordinated
national days of action, which have so far resulted in more than 1,000 arrests
and the seizure of hundreds of vehicles involved in
criminality.
Transport Minister Baroness
Kramer said:
I am pleased we can continue to
fund this nationally important organisation. The potential impact cable theft
has on the railways is huge, not least the inconvenience to passengers. Network
Rail has to compensate operators for the disruption and this is money which
could be better spent on improving the network which is a vital part of our
economic plan.
For the last two years the
taskforce has had a big impact in reducing the number of cables being stolen.
Network Rail continues to report that the trend is in decline, with delays to
passengers being at an all-time low.
Crackdown
The taskforce forms part of the
government’s programme of work to crack down on the illegal trade of
metal, and its activities have been boosted by legislation.
Under the Scrap Metal Dealers
Act which came into effect in October 2013, scrap metal dealers are now
required to hold licences issued by local authorities.
The licences set standards for
record keeping and customer verification and councils may revoke a licence at
any time if they believe the dealer is no longer suitable to hold
one.
Cash payments for scrap metal
have been banned since December 2012.
Statistics published in November
2013 show government action is working. There was a 40% fall in the number of
offences for the three months to the end of March 2013 compared to the three
months to the end of June 2012.