I Spy: Controversial police chief Anthony Bangham – who called for a crackdown on drivers who break the speed limit by 1mph – also wants motorists to spy on their fellow road-users with in-car video cameras
The controversial police chief who called for a crackdown on drivers who break the speed limit by 1mph also wants motorists to spy on their fellow road-users with in-car video cameras.
Chief Constable Anthony Bangham sparked fury last week when he declared that police should no longer be lenient with those who drive just slightly too fast.
He even angered other police leaders by saying that overstretched officers should focus on enforcing speed limits in order to improve road safety.
But The Mail on Sunday can reveal that he is also risking accusations of trying to recruit a Stasi-like army of informants among the public, who will help police as ‘guardians of the law’ by reporting bad driving using the ‘dash-cams’.
Forces are setting up websites where anyone can upload footage of bad driving from cameras that film the road ahead, capturing other drivers’ number plates in the hope they can be tracked down.
Mr Bangham, West Mercia Police chief and national lead on roads policing, told a law enforcement conference last week: ‘Fear of being caught is still one of the biggest changes of behaviour.
‘We’ve got to make sure they genuinely fear being caught.
‘Imagine if you are now clear that the driver next to you could be filming you and police are seeking the footage and will prosecute you for it.
‘The offending road-user might understand that they are more likely to be caught than not.’
He told how the four police forces in Wales now run a website called Operation Snap which encourages motorists to upload dash-cam footage of bad driving.
The first driver to be jailed as a result of dash-cam evidence was James Stocks, from Cheshire, whose dangerous overtaking manoeuvre on a blind bend forced a van off the road. It was seen by a camera in another car, and Stocks was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to dangerous driving in 2015.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that he is also risking accusations of trying to recruit a Stasi-like army of informants among the public, who will help police as ‘guardians of the law’ by reporting bad driving using the ‘dash-cams’
Giles York, Chief Constable of Sussex Police, told this newspaper last year his force had also set up a website, called Operation Crackdown, where anyone can report driving that is ‘careless, deliberately aggressive or dangerous’, and said he is ‘very up’ for allegations being backed up by dash-cam footage.
‘It can be relatively low-level nuisance stuff, but if that causes other people to get frustrated and drive badly, it is really important to us. Even down to people pushing in the queue at the roundabout every day – that causes danger.’
Campaigners say that Britain’s roads are already well covered by speed cameras, CCTV and the Automatic Number Plate Recognition system.
Silkie Carlo, director of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said: ‘The idea that motorists should constantly film each other to create “fear” may be well-intentioned but is woefully misguided.
‘The UK has more surveillance cameras than any other country in Europe. The ANPR network that surveils innocent drivers already captures 40 million photos a day.
‘The last thing we need is ordinary people being encouraged to spy on each other too. This is a desperately silly idea that risks breeding a culture of mistrust and suspicion.’