A day in the life of…
Acting Sergeant Gareth Williams
31 years old | Joined Roads Policing Unit four years ago
'This weekend, I
was on an early turn (6am to 4pm) and a late turn (2pm to midnight). At the
start of my shift, I checked over my vehicle and all the equipment we carry to
make sure it was in good condition and working order.
'On Saturday, my
team attended a number of collisions including at junction 4 on the M25 where
some vehicles sustained minor damage. No one was seriously injured so we were
able to quickly sort it out and send the drivers on their way. In Horsmonden, response
colleagues dealt with an 82-year-old woman who was involved in a collision with
two other vehicles but luckily no one sustained serious injuries.
'A tracker was
activated on a vehicle, believed to have been stolen so I assisted in the
search. Local officers found the car and luckily it turned out to be a false alarm.
'I headed over
to Strood after receiving reports of nuisance trail bikes in the area. During
my search, I stopped a 23-year-old rider causing a nuisance and issued him with
a section 59 warning. This means if we see the vehicle being ridden in an
anti-social way again, we can seize it.
'Back on the
road, over the radio we received a report of a stolen van in the Medway area so
I and three other vehicles attended to conduct an area search. Unfortunately we
weren’t able to locate the vehicle but investigations are continuing.
'I was on
routine patrols in Swanley when we received a call to go to junction 8 of M20
where some men were believed to be acting suspiciously. We searched them and on
inspecting their vehicle, issued them with a vehicle rectification notice. We’d
spotted some defects on their vehicle and the notice means they have to get
these fixed immediately and inform us within 14 days.
If not, the driver faces a court summons.
'The team also
dealt with a prisoner, arrested for drink driving the previous night, who was
subsequently charged with the offence and could face being disqualified from
driving.
'Towards the end
of my shift, I headed back to the office to hand over to the late turn
sergeant.
'While on Sunday
late turn, I received a report from some response officer colleagues that they
were on a routine tasking in Medway when they stop checked a motorist, driving
with no insurance. Officers seized his vehicle and he received a summons to
appear at court. If he wants his vehicle back, the driver must attend his local
station with all the required documents and then pay a penalty of at least £150
to the storage facility holding his vehicle. This fee increases every day for
two weeks by which time, if the vehicle isn’t claimed, it’s sold.'
PC Chris Godden
29 years old | Joined the Roads Policing
Unit in April 2009.
'I was on early
turn on Sunday (6am to 4pm) and while on patrol, came across an abandoned
vehicle on A20 in Ryarsh. I carried out checks on the registered owner and
found it had been left after a collision the previous night, so I arranged for
a relative of the owner to recover the vehicle.
'An hour later, I
attended a collision on A21. One vehicle was involved and the driver had to be
cut from the vehicle before being taken to hospital. I later returned to the
area to assist with traffic management after a second collision occurred in the
tail back.
'Over in
Sevenoaks, I stopped a car on Poll Hill where the driver was found to be
knowingly driving with no insurance. I seized the vehicle and reported the
driver for the offence.
'Near the end of
my shift, I received a call after an intruder alarm and smoke alarm had been
triggered at a commercial property in west Kent. When I got there, Kent Fire
and Rescue Service were forcing entry to the property but it appeared to be a
false alarm as no fire was found.'
About our Response Officers
Based in Aylesford, our
Roads Policing Unit officers cover the whole county, 24 hours a day, seven days
a week, in marked and unmarked vehicles.
Response officers patrol and
deal with incidents on our major motorways in Kent. They also focus on taskings
which means they’ll be deployed to an area to deal with a particular crime type
or search for individuals we’re keen to speak to.
They provide vehicle
related advice to officers across the county and are all advanced pursuit
trained drivers.
The officers also respond
to ANPR detections – their in-car equipment alerts them when the automatic
number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras are triggered if they detect a vehicle
(or driver) we’re interested in.
Our vehicles and equipment
At Kent, our Roads
Policing officers typically drive marked BMWs or Volvos - and they have some
4x4s for heavy-duty work!
The vehicles are well
kitted out. The mobile terminals mean officer can look up people’s details and
check their history while on the road. It is also linked to the ANPR alerts.
All newer vehicles have video recording equipment and speed detectors which
provide useful evidence, of pursuits in particular. Three speeding motorists were recently identified and prosecuted for speeding at more than 100 miles per hour. Check out the
footage on our YouTube page.
The vehicles are also
equipped with breath tests, speed guns, stingers and equipment for examining
vehicles. They also have defibrillators as officers are often first on the
scene of an incident and can give life-saving first aid.
Training
As well as being
advanced-driver trained, our Roads Policing officers have a number of
specialisms including:
- tactical pursuit and containment – this is
where officers use their cars to box in an offender’s vehicle to bring
them to a stop
- public order training
- assessing driver hours, including HGV drivers
- HGV class 1
- vehicle examination and prohibition for both
light and heavy vehicles
