A NEW piece of crime fighting ‘equipment’ has been out on the streets of Shaw and Crompton.
The high spec, high tech vehicle is available for use throughout Greater Manchester Police’s Oldham division.
It has been made available to the police force thanks to funding from Oldham Council, whose livery has been included on the bodywork.
Thanks to neighbourhood beat officers and police community support officers, the Correspondent received an invitation to sit in on a demonstration of the vehicle’s capabilities.
Described as “user friendly” it is as clear as the images produced on its cameras the mobile unit is going to be a major boost to catching law breakers and solving crimes.
It can be operated by a single officer.
No longer will they have to make do with grainy, low resolution images from CCTV cameras.
Mounted on a retractable, telescopic pole the cameras can be zoomed in across a wide distance and still produce razor sharp photos.
On this occasion, the fully marked vehicle was parked up on Market Street, Shaw but clear shots of Crompton Moor still came into view.
It has also been used at Dovestone Reservoir in Saddleworth as part of ongoing attempts to identify moorland arsonists and stamp out the use of barbecues.
Any scepticism about its ability to provide results quickly disappeared.
“If we get wind of problem we can drive up to, even to within a couple of hundred metres, park up at a safe distance and record the evidence,” said NBO Rob Fitzgerald.
“The quality of the images are really good and it is so easy to operate.”