The South East and Eastern Region Stolen Vehicle Cross Border Conference predated the VCRAT initiative and met for many years with a healthy mix of law enforcement and industry representatives discussing items of mutual interest.
The South West and South Wales Cross Border Conference was established in 1996 and with several exceptions, has remained a closed group with Police, VOSA and DVLA representatives making up its membership.
Groups were established in the Midlands, North West and North East of England. Forces that do support these groups attended the group most relevant to their business needs rather than rely on formal regional boundaries, e.g. North Wales Police representatives attend the North West Conference, Cheshire Police attend both North West and Midlands. Several Scottish forces also attend when appropriate.
The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) Organised Vehicle Crime Section played an important co-ordinating role, attending all groups, identifying a number of cross-border issues,and progressing with positive results. It is also the case that NCIS were extremely keen for these groups to evolve into more formal NIM (National Intelligence model) compliant intelligence sharing fora, a move unpopular with many regular contributors.
Note:
The National Intelligence Model (NIM) is ‘a Model for Policing’ that provides intelligence senior managers can use to help them formulate strategic direction, make tactical resourcing decisions and manage risk. Launched by the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and adopted by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in 2000, the government placed the NIM at the centre of the Police Reform Agenda.
What the NIM does:
- Provides greater consistency of policing across the UK
- Allows operational strategies to focus on key priorities
- Allows more officers to focus on solving priority problems and targeting the most active offenders
- Achieves greater compliance with human rights legislation and the Regulation of Investigation Powers Act (RIPA)
- Informs the management of risk
- Provides more informed business planning and a greater link to operational policing issues
- Improves direction and briefing of patrols
- Reduces rates of persistent offenders through targeting the most prolific
- Improves integration with partner agencies
Further information – National Intelligence Model
See also – UK’s National Intelligence Model (NIM) 5x5x5