TWELVE Police Scotland officers have undergone specialist accredited training to enhance stolen vehicle identification and examination to combat plant and rural machinery theft.
The officers, from across Scotland, took part in the intensive course that teaches detailed insights into manufacturer vehicle marking systems and methods of detecting altered and cloned vehicles.
Since completing the course, the officers are able to identify vehicles – including cars, HGVs, agricultural, and construction equipment – which have had their VIN number and registration plates removed.
The course at Tulliallan Police College saw officers from North-East and West roads policing teams as well as port police officers from Cairnryan taught methods for detecting stolen during investigations, stop checks, and planned operations.
Since the training, the methods have already resulted in stolen vehicles being identified using the methods taught. A BMW 3 Series displaying a 2016 registration that had recently been purchased in the East Lothian area was inspected and found to be displaying cloned registration details and was in fact a 2013 registered car that was stolen in the Birmingham area in 2022.
Inspector Ian Harvey, national rural, acquisitive, business preventions team, said, “This course is already seeing results for Police Scotland and means we can positively identify and reunite stolen vehicles with their rightful owners. This will be a valuable resource in our continued operations against those who perpetrate vehicle crime.
“As well as private vehicles, officers can identify stolen commercial vehicles such as farming equipment, heavy goods and construction machines. These types of thefts can have a huge effect on an individual and leave a business struggling to carry out their work.
“Through the work of the Scottish Partnership against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE) and the Scottish Partnership against Rural Crime (SPARC) we will continue to target those individuals and groups harming our communities.”
