Brentwood: Road Crime Team arrest 9 to tackle drink and drug driving

Our Roads Crime Team (RCT) officers continue to identify those unfit to drive through drink or drugs following a successful campaign to take dangerous drivers off our roads in December 2024.

On Saturday 11 January, RCT officers conducted patrols across Brentwood, as part of our vital work to tackle drink and drug driving highlighting that our work to tackle this issue doesn’t stop, although the Christmas campaign has.

The patrols resulted in 13 arrests – 9 of which related to drink or drug driving.

Mr Adam Pipe, Head of Roads Policing, said:
Drivers who are unfit to drive because of alcohol or substances they have taken must understand that they pose a risk to themselves, their passengers and other road users.
My officers know the risk is real and remains every single day.
They work tirelessly to identify drivers who are over the legal limits, to protect our communities from any harm they may cause and to reduce killed and seriously injured collisions.
Road safety takes many forms, but we want you to know that we’ll be out there, each and every day, conducting patrols and tailoring our policing activities to ensure that those who use our roads in such risky ways will be targeted and brought to justice.

Over a period lasting 12 hours, the team arrested 8 drivers in connection with drug driving and one driver in connection with drink driving. Three further arrests were in connection with immigration offences and one arrest wanted in connection with an assault.

RCT efforts also resulted in 79 traffic offence reports being issued for a variety of road-related offences.

Throughout the day, 10 uninsured vehicles were seized.

As the patrols also focussed on the criminal use of our roads, something we are keen to halt, it allowed officers the opportunity to identify the following who were dealt with by colleagues:
• the passenger of one car was wanted by another force in connection with a burglary.
• the driver of a Mercedes car on hire and his passenger were arrested in connection with drugs located in the vehicle.
• the occupants of a car were arrested after reports they were concerned in an indecent exposure in the north of the county.

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Our Roads Policing Unit (RPU) provide a specialist response across our road network. Their expertise helps to keep our roads safe and traffic moving. They work to make sure those road users who put others at risk by speeding, driving dangerously or any other illegal behaviour, are held accountable for their actions. Our officers look for those using our roads to commit crime and disrupt criminal activity.

So that our officers can be even more effective on our roads, and better support the Strategic Road Network (SRN), our RPU based at Stanway, Colchester, have moved to our sites in Boreham and Thorpe-Le-Soken.

Our RPU will continue to operate 24/7 across the county. They will continue to work alongside officers and staff throughout Essex to help people and catch criminals. They will also continue to work to prevent and reduce road deaths and serious collisions on our roads.

In line with our Estates Strategy, the site at Stanway, which is not open to the public, will be sold. Funds will be reinvested into your police service.

This move does not affect the police teams who currently, and will continue to, work from Colchester Police Station. The sale of the Stanway site will not change local policing delivery or our visibility in our communities.