THE latest technology and a new high-performance patrol car is keeping Merseyside Police a step ahead of lawbreakers on one of the region's crucial commercial routes.
The new initiative incorporating the use of a customised Halewood-built Jaguar X-Type and the force helicopter is aimed at cracking down on the East Lancashire Road, often a target for the criminal fraternity.
Merseyside Police Authority, the Safer Merseyside Partnership and the business sector are among the leading partners in the scheme, which has been devised to reduce crime and improve road safety along the important A580 arterial road.
The route is one of the busiest in the north west, linking Liverpool city centre with Manchester, and carries more than 8,500,000 vehicles a year.
Now is it safeguarded by the Baby Jag which is equipped with a direct link to the force helicopter and has advanced number plate-reading technology The A580 has, in recent years, presented neighbouring police forces with a range of challenges as they seek to improve road safety and reduce crime.
Just as the road forms an integral part of the north west's communications infrastructure and has attracted various business and commercial developments along its route, it has also attracted unwanted attention from criminal elements based all over the region who exploit the easy, fast access to the rest of the region's road network, which the East Lancs Road affords them.
But now Lancsafe has been devised using detailed studies of crime patterns, and the number of cases in which criminals have been able to escape from the scenes of crimes committed at various premises along the route of the road.
Figures have been analysed by a range of experts including the Home Office and criminologists working with the St Helens-based Lancsafe Team.
This analysis will play a major part in the further development of the Lancsafe Project.
The scheme enters an important new phase this month (March 2003) thanks to extra commitment from many of its key partners.
Extra investment has helped kit out the X-Type, which has been chosen to provide high-performance to match the speed of cars often stolen and used by criminals.
The Safer Merseyside Partnership (SMP) with Business Crime Direct at the Chamber of Commerce has funded some of this innovative equipment.
