2007 – An informal group of experienced Police practitioners came together in 1997 at the request of the ACPO Vehicle Crime Conference to consider the marking of vehicles where the manufacturer’s identity marks had been defaced or removed and examiners had spent considerable effort tracing the vehicle’s history only to see it returned to an owner.
- Note – see ‘Costello’
A number of such vehicles had subsequently been examined by other forces, wasting considerable time and expense. The Polexam scheme was adopted whereby vehicles subject of extensive POLice EXAMination were marked with tamper-proof stickers and a POLEXAM marker placed on the PNC. The PNC report identifies the force holding the original examination report. This scheme continues to be sponsored by Retainagroup Ltd.
When Home Office officials launched the VCRAT initiative in 1999 this group was renamed the Vehicle Crime Advisory Group (VCAG) to support the ACPO vehicle crime lead. Representatives were initially selected for their experience and particular skills, many chairing regional cross border groups. Later representatives from the DVLA, NCIS and Forensic Science Service joined the group to comment on issues referred.
This group supports a national vehicle crime structure, allowing individual forces to raise issues in regional groups, and where considered necessary, these issues were referred to VCAG and brought to the attention of the ACPO lead. Should he so wish, the ACPO vehicle crime lead could raise these issues at VCRAT. Similarly, this structure allowed issues raised at VCRAT to be disseminated to forces through VCAG and regional groups.