We've Got Runners Traffic Cops

13 million motoring offences every year.

He's gone through a wall and taken out a power cable

and it's somersaulted onto its roof.

More than 200,000 crashes and accidents.

That's his head. There is actually hair on the inside.

The nation's traffic police patrol across 250,000 miles of road.

Tonight:

Put your arms down. Don't raise your arms.

Yorkshire's traffic police chasing fugitives and runaways.

We've got runners!

Detecting.

Drug dealers and criminals hide things in places

that people don't like to look.

And putting the brake on some of Britain's prolific criminals.

You've got runners from a vehicle.

It's a white male, black baseball cap.

And a new way the police are collecting official evidence - on head cams.

Get that camera out of my face now.

Recording the action as the traffic cops see it happen.

From a police officer's point of view, really, exactly what

you see on the head cam is exactly what we're seeing in real life.

Busts caught on camera.

Open it!

And arrests.

Sit up, sweetheart. Come on.

It's quite harrowing when you go through the chain of events.

Grimsby, north-east Lincolnshire.

7pm.

So, Grimsby in the daylight.

A thing of beauty.

PCs Rob Jones and Lee Cobb

from the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Roads Crime Team

are patrolling the back streets in an unmarked car.

We were tasked with looking for a particular set of individuals

that were causing grief in the Grimsby area,

particularly relating to drugs and drug supply.

A black Golf shot out of a side street.

Hello.

It didn't seem to be in control, as such.

-Is it a girl driving that?

-Yes.

Can you go right at the roundabout?

Quite erratic, the driving, really. She shot off down here.

'There's two reasons for people driving of that nature.

'One is they generally drive like that.'

The second is because they want to get away from somewhere

or are carrying somebody or something on board they shouldn't have.

She's overlapping the road.

The direction she's heading raises their suspicions.

Basically, done a big square.

To my mind, there was no reason why you would do that route.

We turned the blue lights on to try and get it stopped as soon as possible.

Get the keys off her.

'I looked to my right and saw the front seat passenger look at me'

with a look of sheer panic on his face.

'He opened the door, got out and started to run.'

I've got him.

We've got runners! Stand by. I'll get you a road name.

'The passenger ran down an alleyway between two houses.

'I had no idea where they had gone.

'There was no noise, nothing jumping fences, that kind of thing.'

Rob's wearing a specially fitted head cam that films his every move.

Everything they say and do is being recorded.

It's there in glorious technicolour for everyone to see.

The suspect has disappeared.

He ran that way down to the left.

So he will be in the back there somewhere. White T-shirt, blue shorts.

'While Lee went around the corner to look for the front seat passenger,'

I went back to Lee to help him with the two people

'I knew he had got detained in the Golf.'

-Who was that, then?

-What?

-Who was that in that seat?

The first tale they give you is generally one

that suits their side of the story, if you like.

It's also the one you can pick the biggest holes in.

What's your mate's name? What is he running away for?

The cops have been given a name,

but there is still no sign of the runaway.

In a nearby street,

PCs Ross Masters and Ben Waite are also searching for the wanted man.

The senses are heightened, we are looking at everything.

We are looking at every car that's moving, every person on the street.

A grey hatchback turns into the street.

The vehicle stops and you can see the driver

and the passenger fixated on the police car.

Rob has passed a description of the offender, who was wearing bright blue shorts.

And lo and behold, the driver of the vehicle we had stopped had these bright blue shorts on.

Ben suspects the driver is the runaway and wants to question him.

But his attention also turns to the passenger.

I can see the passenger of the vehicle fiddling around with the back of his shorts.

It looked like he was trying to hide something.

Because of that, they've both been detained, Section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act,

which basically gives us the power to detain them

and search them and the vehicle

for any items linking to drugs and drug supply.

Back around the corner, Rob searches the girl's car.

Is that it?

He finds some cannabis.

The thing with cars is, there are lots and lots of places you can hide things.

You can take radios out, you can take internal lights out.

I started searching the front of the car

and found a quantity of cash just stuffed in below the radio.

It's only 250 quid.

200 and something.

It is a very uncommon place to hide cash in your car.

I don't know about you, but I keep mine in my wallet.

They find something else in the boot.

There's a light and ducting that you would use in a cannabis factory.

Cannabis cultivation set-up.

In the boot, there is a light

and ducting for cannabis cultivation stuff.

And there's these two cards in different names.

I want to know where these come from.

They've got a couple of hundred quid

and he's legged it, so something's not right.

The cash and the items Rob found in the Golf are grounds for arrest.

At the police station, Rob's finally got hold of the suspected runaway.

'As far as I was concerned,

'he was definitely the fellow that had run away from the Golf.'

Bear in mind, I was not even six feet away from him when he looked straight at me.

'He had been arrested in relation to the stuff we had found in the car.'

Potentially, that is a reason for running away.

He's now searched for drugs.

We'll sort that out for you. We'll close the door.

But nothing is found.

Next, the runaway's mate.

'He is quite a cocky, arrogant chap and he's coming in there

'and it's just a routine procedure for him. I'm thinking,'

this chap is far too cocky to have any drugs on him.

He's not booked into custody.

We've just taken him into one of the cells to do this search.

It's not the best part of the job.

Nobody enjoys looking at people naked at work,

but it's a fact that criminals hide things in places

that people don't like to look. They don't enjoy it,

I certainly don't enjoy it,

but it's something that's got to be done.

A package has fallen on to the floor.

'It's apparent immediately it's some form of controlled drug.

'It's a powder, it's in a clear, snap-seal bag. That is traditionally'

how Class A drugs are transported in small individual deals.

Just when I was searching this chap, the bags have fallen out.

The bigger bag looks like heroin

and then two smaller bags of white powder, possibly crack cocaine.

'The way he walked in, we were a little surprised when it did come out'

but sometimes you just have to be prepared for the unexpected, I suppose.

Get that camera out of my face.

'Taking something like that off the street, if only for a little while,'

is only going to have a positive impact on that community.

Since the Regional Roads Crime Team was set up in 2008,

drug seizures in Yorkshire and Humberside have risen by nearly a quarter.

-What drink do you want?

-Cup of tea, please.

The team continue the investigation and keep the suspects in the cells.

50 miles west of Grimsby in Doncaster,

PCs Lee Cobb and Mick Roffe are following a red flatbed transit van.

You see a transit type flat back vehicle at that time of night,

it's not going to be workmen, it's not going to be tradesmen.

You are always going to stop this kind of vehicle.

Mick's head cam records everything he encounters.

Hello, mate. All right? Turn the engine off for us, pal.

Pass us the keys.

As Ben and Ross arrive, Mick continues to question the driver.

Get some ID out.

'We were looking at the vehicle,

'but at this point the occupants are concerning me.'

This guy is from out of town and there is a young girl in the car.

It is immediately apparent she is under the influence of something.

Straightaway, you are suspecting drugs.

Sweetheart, have you taken something tonight you shouldn't have?

-Have I what?

-Taken something you shouldn't have tonight.

-No.

Are you using at all?

She portrayed all the hallmarks of someone who had used recently.

Her speech was slurred, she was quite lethargic in the way she was.

There is some fresh blood on the back of your hand and stuff.

Obviously, we're going to be searching you.

-Have you got anything that's contagious or anything like that we need to worry about?

-No.

It sounds really harsh,

but I've got to think about my own personal safety.

'People who inject heroin ultimately share needles

'and contract all sorts of things.

'Hepatitis B and C can be quite harmful'

to anybody who comes into contact with that.

You are going to be searched under Section 23, Misuse of Drugs Act, all right?

-Do you understand that?

-That's fine, yes.

Do you understand that, mate, as well? That counts for you.

You will be searched as well because there is a smell of cannabis, isn't there?

-You can search me now.

-Have you got any gear on you still?

-Any pins in your pockets?

-No.

-Just keep your hands out of your pockets.

Obviously, there are no female officers here.

-It's not ideal that I search you.

-No. Search me.

-Are you sure?

-Yes, I'm sure.

It's sad in a way because she has got a drug habit that she has to feed

and when you use the term, "feeding a drug habit",

you are feeding that habit, it almost eats these people up.

-How do you know this man?

-He's from Worksop. He's one of my old mates.

-Where did he pick you up from?

-Erm...

It's all right.

While Mick records his search inside the van,

Ben questions the girl further.

How long have you been on heroin?

And how much do you use a day?

Right. And how do you fund that?

What got you into it in the first place, then?

How old are you now?

This particular drug dealer

has targeted probably a vulnerable young girl at a young age

and thought, "If I get her onto heroin, I've got her for life."

And he knows that. That is how they build their trade.

She's going to be a lifelong customer.

Current research shows there are more than 400,000 users

hooked on heroin and crack in the UK.

There is no sign of any heroin, but Mick has found something else.

'There is this cannabis cigarette in the car at this point

'and we'd not found any other drugs'

so it could be either one of theirs.

-It's mine.

-It's yours, is it? Are you sure?

'While she is heavily involved in Class A, she's had no previous

'convictions for Class B, so'

she could have had a street caution,

which is viewed by criminality as literally just a slap on the wrist.

A check on the police national computer

reveals something more serious.

Just run by what she is wanted for again, please?

She is wanted for not attending her drugs referral order.

-Right, sweetheart, unfortunately, you are under arrest as well.

-Why?

-You failed to attend the court.

-Can I have a cigarette, please?

-Not just yet, no.

-Please? Before I go.

-Give me two seconds.

You've just smoked one in my face back there, haven't you?

The court issued a warrant because you have not attended a referral.

A drugs referral. You need to attend.

You were told that. Or you can be arrested.

'She is wanted for several different things but one of them was failing to attend a drugs rehabilitation order.

'What the Government are doing is, instead of putting these people'

behind bars and not helping them out,

they make them attend drugs rehabilitation

to try and get them off this drug and try and help them

'and if they don't attend it, they are arrested for it.'

Although she is under arrest, the innocent driver is free to go.

There was nothing to suggest he had committed any offences,

so he was allowed to leave.

Her recently-taken heroin seems to be taking effect.

I was sat with her and you start to become a little concerned

cos she was almost incoherent

'and you could see she was slumping down in the seat.'

Sit up, sweetheart. Come on.

'And you've just got to really be careful because ultimately, now, whatever she's done'

matters not. She's in our care.

She's in our custody. We have to look after her.

Where's that from?

Let me have a look.

It's a bag of cannabis found where she was sitting.

She will be booked into custody for the night and taken to court in the morning.

But first, they check if she is wanted for any other offences.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Thank you.

Breach of bail.

There is also a circulation,

failing to appear in relation to a drugs matter from the 23rd at court.

There is a breach of a court order

where you have failed to report as directed

and you are also, according to this,

wanted for a theft.

Gemma, is there anything else in this bag other than just the needles

-and your drugs gear?

-I don't know.

-OK.

She has got a big bag, which at first we just thought

'contained personal items, drug paraphernalia, clean needles.

'It's got your citric acid, it's got your cleaning wipes.

'Within the bag I have also come across some items,'

I think it was a bus pass and a bank card.

Could the bank cards be evidence of another theft?

Whose are these cards, Gemma?

It's just one of my mum's mates from my house.

When they are in someone else's name, we need to look into that.

I'd prefer to do that first and then come back.

'It's quite harrowing when you go through the chain of events.

'She has been hooked on heroin, and to get her fix she needs money.'

It is awful to think about and you don't come across it very often

but when you do, it's quite disturbing.

'People wonder why we take such a dim view of drug dealers.

'I'm on this unit to go out and catch drug dealers'

because it's not the users we should be targeting, really.

They're victims, if you like.

That dealer has ruined this girl's life. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind about that.

The suspect settles down for the night.

-See you later, Gemma.

-I just want some food and I'll be happy.

I'll sort that out for you now, don't you worry about that.

-Thank you.

-OK, sweetheart. See you later.

-See you in a minute.

-OK.

50 miles north-west of Doncaster, in Halifax,

West Yorkshire traffic cops PCs Andy Cox and Mark Claxton

are on a night operation targeting drug dealers.

-Cannabis in the air.

-Yes.

-Exotic tobacco.

-It smells like someone is baking.

Baking a rather special cake.

Cannabis and other drugs like heroin

and cocaine are some of the biggest causes of crime in the UK.

Drugs is usually responsible for most crimes and most things that happen.

Don't do it! Stay on the floor!

From the dealer right down to the individual who ends up taking

or resorting to being drug dependent.

As a result of that, they will steal anything they can.

In 2012, crimes like robbery and theft, often committed to fund drug habits,

accounted for half of all crime in England and Wales.

Officers nearby have come across an unusual theft.

Some officers have just shouted up

that they've come across a cannabis factory.

Two males dressed in dark clothing carrying binbags have run away.

'It's only then really when we realise how close we were

'when we smelt the cannabis earlier,'

that that's in fact what it probably was through the air.

Two males in dark clothing carrying binbags.

I think we ought to be having a word with them.

There is a slight smell emitting from them as they run.

Somehow or by some means, the people who have got that cannabis factory

in their house have been sussed out by someone.

What looks like a typical terrace dwelling

hides an increasingly common practice.

The smell from that, as soon as you walked through the door, it was so pungent.

It really did hit you.

There was no illusion whatsoever

as to what was in that house once you had gone inside it.

In 2012, police found nearly 8,000 set-ups like this one.

The usual thing with cannabis factories,

if you do go in and you check, it can quite often be booby-trapped.

They wire things up to the mains electricity

or they will put wires across the floor.

Where matting and things are,

they will put nails and stuff underneath it so that potentially

they want to protect it from the type of person who has just been.

'Because so many of these cannabis factories are'

found out by other drug dealers who will come and steal it all,

they will do the booby-traps.

So you have to be very careful what you are doing when you go in there.

The heat from it is quite tremendous. It has to be nice and warm.

All the hydroponic systems and the ventilation up here,

so it's quite a nice little set-up.

All the walls have reflective material around them to keep it all warm.

All the plants have been in here.

They have cut them straight off, chopped them down.

-The heat in here is quite...

-Intense.

-And all the lighting.

So it's quite a big set-up.

It's quite a professional set-up, to be honest with you.

Home-grown cannabis production has more than doubled

in the last five years in the UK.

Quite often, someone will rent a property for maybe a six-month period

so that there is no paper trail of who they are.

They give false details, pay in cash

and the whole of that premises will be a cannabis factory.

They've even got a system up there, which looks like a large torch.

It is actually taking in the odour and putting it into a filter system.

So it doesn't give off the whiff to all the neighbours and everybody else.

You can't go to B&Q and buy all that lot and shove it in a trolley.

It would be a bit of a giveaway, really.

The problem is, the internet is a wonderful tool these days.

Tap in a few words of how to produce a cannabis factory and it'll be there.

It has been quite a good little set-up, but unfortunately it sounds

like they might have bragged to somebody about what they are doing.

The officers that were at the scene originally made some enquiries

and traced the owner of the house.

He was taken to the police station and interviewed about it,

at which I believe he fully admitted his involvement in the offence

and that he was cultivating it.

At Doncaster Police Station, the bank cards found amongst

the 19-year-old's property have been linked to another theft.

When she's been arrested, she's had two cards on her.

We've just done a CMS check on these cards

and it turns out that a purse was stolen yesterday in Bawtry.

The description given matches her to a T.

The bank card that I have found in her property has been stolen

the previous day from an old couple in a local village.

The clothes she was wearing were the identical clothes that were

described in the crime the previous day.

She's on a £150-a-week drug habit. How does she fund it? Petty crime.

Dipping old dears' purses while they are in pubs.

It's not the crime of the century but that old lady yesterday, when she

found out she's had her purse stolen, she was probably quite upset by it.

We talk there about petty crime and it's not the crime of the century

and all that and it sounds like it almost trivialises an issue.

If it was my mum or my grandmother... My grandmother is 80 years old.

If she was minding her own business

and this girl snatched her handbag, my grandmother would be mortified.

Just follow me. Come on.

Follow me.

Gemma, as a result of those cards,

I am arresting you on suspicion of theft of a purse

from a pub on the high street in Bawtry yesterday.

Do you understand?

Gemma is the classic habitual heroin user, really.

She will commit petty crime to just put a needle in her arm.

She's lost kind of her morality - the drug does that to her.

She's Gemma, but she's not really Gemma any more.

Yeah, there will be a court appearance.

And we're going to contact them for you anyway, all right?

Gemma, follow me, I'll put you back in.

People look at police as an all-singing, all-dancing agency,

and we're not, really - we're law enforcement.

There's a big story to Gemma, and we're at the end of that story.

We can make referrals, and we certainly do make referrals.

Ultimately, it's up to Gemma to help Gemma out -

whether she wants to do that or not is...remains to be seen.

DOOR SQUEAKS AND SLAMS

Bradford, West Yorkshire.

It's a new day,

but the major issue facing the Regional Roads Crime Team

remains the same here, as it does throughout the UK.

Streets are covered with drugs and drug dealers, and,

you know, we deal with so much of it because there is so much of it.

Mick and Lee receive a report.

We've had a call from a local channel that some lads

cut a cannabis crop up at an address.

We're just making our way there as quietly and as quickly as possible,

so as not to spook them at all

in our unmarked car, and hopefully we can drop on them still doing it.

It could be another theft involving a cannabis factory.

Once the crop's mature,

if you can get in and crop the plants and steal them,

then you've got free cannabis, if you like.

I think a member of the public has seen them

cropping it through the window.

Steady, steady, steady.

-Here?

-No, next one.

That might be it, back there.

Number 5, Lincoln Park...

Go steady - we're in an unmarked car.

-POLICE RADIO CHATTER

-15-11...

It's this flat here.

'You're thinking, "There'll be two or three lads with a van,

'"maybe loading up cannabis plants."'

And that's all we come to work for. I'd love to catch somebody

in the act of doing that - it would be a fantastic result.

Just go to the front... VOICE ON POLICE RADIO

-RADIO:

-'And then previous one should have conditional discharge.

At the front, mate - is there anyone at t'front?

Cut at front, stay at front. It's this flat here.

Put t'window up.

While Mick covers the back,

Lee has a look inside.

Not going to go far, is it? Can we just...?

'You don't know until you're physically through the door

'as to what you've got. But for me, I always... I'm a bit of'

a "glass is half full" kind of guy - I'll always err on the side of,

you know, if someone's phoned in

and it looks relatively credible, let's go with it.

There's nobody answering the door,

and a witness has told us there IS somebody at the address.

'Neighbours had said that'

there was someone inside the flat - why aren't they answering?

'Every minute we stand outside'

is another minute they get the chance

to dispose of some potential evidence, so, for me,

we needed to be getting through the door sharpish.

It's very unusual to get information this specific.

Which lends itself to believe it's correct.

So we, er, get the key and put the door in.

When he says we'll get the key and put the door in, he doesn't mean

the Yale-type key, he means the big piece of metal.

The Enforcer, as it's otherwise known,

is 35lb of hardened steel

that impacts at more than 3.5 tonnes.

Police! Come to the door, else we'll knock it in!

Come and answer the door, else we'll put it in - your last chance!

There's definitely someone in there, I know there is,

from what I've been told.

'And they always sit and wait it out as best they can.'

-Not yet.

-You what?

-Not yet.

PIECES OF METAL CLATTER TO THE GROUND

SHOUTING FROM INSIDE

Open it, then!

It's police! Stand back from the door!

MORE SHOUTING FROM INSIDE

Open the door, then.

Any more...?

-Right, is there anybody else in the house?

-No.

Right.

Come in here.

Come in here.

There's no sign of any cannabis.

Clear in here.

'Really, really disappointed.

'You work hard to get there, you smash the door in,

'and it's just not there.

'The more you search and the less you find'

the more deflated you become.

It's just, "Oh, I can't believe it," you know.

Is there something here that shouldn't be?

-No.

-No. Why didn't you come to the door, then?

-I was asleep!

-Oh, that's funny.

-What's your name, pal?

-Didn't hear us shouting?

Who in their right mind...? He said he was asleep or something.

We were there for a good 5-10 minutes

shouting, banging on his door - "Police!"

He's up to summat in here.

There's no doubt in my mind that he knew that the police were there.

Mick finds some cannabis.

But it's not what he was expecting.

It's obviously old plants, but...

There's bin bags everywhere. Whether he's bagged it up or...

This guy had obviously grown some cannabis and let it dry out.

They're only little saplings, so really, at best,

you've got £20-30 worth of cannabis.

So, we deal with him by means of a fixed penalty.

-We're...

-I...

-We're going to issue you a fixed penalty notice.

Because you've got no previous for drugs, or growing drugs

-or anything to do with drugs, have you?

-No.

We're going to issue you a ticket

which gives you an £80 fine, basically.

And we'll seize the plants from you, all right?

Do you need a bigger bag?

In 2012, possession of cannabis

accounted for nearly three-quarters of all drug offences.

I'd rather any day of the week force a door

'and run a job to its nth degree and find that then, you know,'

things are different, than stand outside while somebody's

potentially under threat or we're losing evidence,

just because we're not 1,000% sure.

For me, I had reasonable grounds to believe that there was

someone inside the address, from what I'd been told.

And the information was they were

cropping cannabis, so there was enough for me.

Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 7:30pm.

Mick and Lee are hunting a wanted man.

We'd been tasked to the Parsons Cross area in Sheffield.

We were looking at quite a high-level drug dealer

who was currently feuding with another group.

As we get to the roundabout, I see coming from the off-side

a little green, old Peugeot, three lads in it.

As soon as we see it, he just puts his foot down.

MICK SPEAKS TO POLICE RADIO: ..vehicle along Clarence Avenue, Parsons Cross.

As we pull up behind it...

Just nick up t'other side!

..the front seat passenger just leaps out.

2-6, we've got runners from a vehicle.

Lee's out and running straightaway after him.

It's a white male, er, black baseball cap.

It's always a risky time when you run after somebody,

because you never know where they're going to go, who they are,

what they've got on board,

if they're carrying any weapons.

You try our damnedest to run,

and communicate to your colleagues where they are.

The worst bit is, Lee's out and running on his own,

one-on-one with a stranger, who might have weapons.

The adrenaline's up, and you're just basically asking anybody on the air

to come and help us out.

Ben and Ross are nearby, listening to the radio.

VOICES ON POLICE RADIO

We're a mile away, Mick, we're en route.

When I get round and see him, a couple of streets away,

you kind of almost breathe a sigh of relief.

You know, he's in one piece, it's not turned into a fight as yet,

and it's not...it's not escalated any further.

Mick's found Lee, but where's the runaway?

I've had a word with Lee, and he's saying the guy's hidden in a garden

or hidden in a house or something like that.

VOICE ON POLICE RADIO

As Mick approaches some gardens, Lee has the runaway detained.

He gave up. He literally walked towards us,

'didn't put up a fight, didn't give us any grief or arguments.

'He basically said, "I'm wanted."'

He was wanted for a riot

and violent disorder -

it's alleged that this chap's actually attacked somebody

'and he's been wanted for quite a while.

'In his pocket is a quantity of cash,

'which, for a chap who's not working,'

you ask yourself the question,

"Where have you got that from and what are you doing with it?

"Is it from criminal means?"

-How much money have you got in here?

-Dunno.

'I've arrested him for being in possession of criminal property -

'also known as money-laundering.

'We suspect the money in his pocket isn't from a legitimate source.'

So that gives us a leg-up to go and have a look into his life,

and see what he's up to.

A quarter of a mile away, Rob catches up with the two males

who were riding in the car with the suspect.

They'd got no drugs on them, they'd no...

vast quantities of cash, no firearms in the car,

nothing to be concerned about - from their point of view at least.

But until we get to the bottom of what had gone off,

all three were arrested and taken to the nearest police station.

We didn't know who this guy was, and then local officers started arriving,

saying, "Do you know who you've got, do you know who this lad is?"

And really surprised. Apparently he's been wanted for some time,

so just by being in the right area and looking at the right cars,

we've dropped on a guy that

divisional officers have been looking for for weeks.

At the police station, Rob searches the car.

'I'm trying to go through it as methodically as possible,

'because you can hide things in'

lots of different places in cars, there are many small hidey-holes.

There's this, er, bent...

air rifle barrel.

In the foot well.

Which would make a very handy cosh, I suppose.

Yeah, it's another exhibit. It's a lock-knife,

found down the side of the driver's seat.

Lock-knives can be used for many innocent things,

although the fact it locks in itself makes it illegal.

And he shouldn't have it.

'The reason we were there'

is to try and combat

this gang problem that Sheffield had at that time,

on Parson Cross.

-POLICE RADIO:

-'She carry a mobile, or...?'

Half a scaffolding pole under the driver's seat.

What use is half a scaffolding pole to somebody,

other than as a weapon?

We'll recover that, get it bagged up,

along with the lock-knife and the air weapon barrel.

There's also a wheel brace under there.

We'll recover that as well. Again, all heavy metal things.

See, if that could have a use in a car,

I'd love to know what explanation he's going to give for that.

Bigger picture is,

you've got groups of usually lads running round Sheffield,

and Parsons Cross in particular,

trying to be top dog, if you like.

Although they only mean to hurt each other,

or cause damage to each other's property,

there are innocent members of the public

that live on Parsons Cross and, you know,

the chances are that at some point, they're going to get in the way.

On the north-east Lincolnshire coast, in Grimsby,

Officers Mark Panther and Martin Micklethwaite

from the Regional Roads Crime Team have been asked to check

on the driver of a car who is linked to drug dealing.

We're heading to a car at the moment

that is on our pack for today - some other local units have stopped it.

Another officer initially at the vehicle - we've gone to assist.

It's being held together by all sorts, this.

The driver's been sat in the driver's seat with the door open.

How are we doing, all right...?

Driving round in vehicles like this,

you're asking to get stopped by police.

Careful.

'I've looked in the door pocket whilst I'm scanning round,

'and immediately I've seen what appeared to be

'a police cosh, a baton.

BATON CLICKS OUT 'We use it in our day-to-day policing,'

but it's very rare that we would actually draw us baton.

For what we've found in the car,

I'm just going to put these on you, all right?

-HANDCUFFS CLICK

-I'm getting arresting, am I, mate?

-Hey?

-Am I getting arrested?

It's obviously going through us mind - why has he got this baton?

He obviously wants to protect himself from something.

I'm arresting you on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon.

You don't have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you

-don't mention something you later rely on in court.

-Yeah.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence, all right?

It's a type of weapon that's going to break bones.

If you were to get hit by that, it would cause,

you know, a potential serious injury, so...

whilst it's taken off the street, it's all well and good for us.

And good for members of the public, really.

Get that off me!

-Put your arms down.

-Don't start twisting me cuffs, then!

Put your arms down, then. Don't raise your arms.

He's getting a bit agitated, a bit upset.

Don't raise your arms, then, with your fist clenched, and you won't...

I wasn't with my fist clenched, you're...!

..you won't have them twisted, will you?

Martin's got to keep his hands on his cuffs

and prevent him from striking out or anything like that.

Chuck us your car keys, fella.

Here you are, get... Take my car key off.

-We need all your keys, mate.

-No...

-Jump in t'car.

-Obviously my house keys...

-Jump in t'car, mate.

Taking him to the station so he can be interviewed.

We'll take the vehicle as well back to the police station,

where we can search it more thoroughly.

It is a shed of a car, that, innit?

'I'm driving the vehicle back to the police station

'while Martin's transporting the prisoner.'

And whilst I were in the vehicle,

the, er, the exhaust didn't sound too clever.

'Mate, it sounds awful.'

Mark's driving the car back so we can go through it a little bit more.

We can search it in a bit more detail

in our own time as well.

I can't see any reason why anybody would need one of them in the car.

But is that the circles that he mixes in?

Does he require that piece of, er, kit

to make sure that he doesn't get into any bother?

In you pop.

Stand, er, stand just there for us, fella.

Martin's taken him into custody, and I begin a search of the vehicle.

As the search begins,

Mark discovers a reason he believes the suspect is carrying

a police cosh, or ASP.

Some, er, individual bags of

some white crystal.

It becomes clear to me why he's got a cosh in his car -

'somebody coming and trying to take his drugs.

'So that's why he will have a baton close to hand, in his door pocket'

he can easily grab if anybody tries to come and attack him

or take his drugs from him.

'They're prepared to go to any lengths to keep hold of the drugs,

'and it's a sad state of affairs, really.'

A good, er, 15 individual bags.

I'm just trying to...

..see how many of these.

Got 18 bags, which is a nice find.

The drugs will be tested, but their discovery gives the cops

further grounds for arrest.

I'll do the, er, do the honours.

What's your first name again, fella?

-LOW VOICE:

-Dave.

Dave?

Mate, erm, bit of a problem, what's been found in the car.

All right. At the minute, you're under arrest on suspicion

of possession with intent to supply.

-You understand everything that's been said to you?

-Yes.

Marvellous.

We've got, er, 18 bags, which look like probably £10 deals.

Erm, it probably is

that he is dealing this, whatever substance it is,

rather than for his own personal use,

cos if it was for his own personal use,

then he wouldn't need to divide it into these kind of quantities.

We go to work to stop people dealing drugs in this way,

and remove drugs from the street.

Because in my years of policing, I've seen

the effect that drug use can have on people.

Scales, mate.

Digital scales.

Further evidence that he's supplying drugs.

You do feel good that you've had some kind of positive impact,

removing drugs and weapons from the streets.

You never know what you're going to get each day when you come to work,

but when you find stuff like this, it is pleasing.

Looks as if he's got something in there. Could be nothing, but it's

a bit strange in the circumstances, with the information we've got,

to have a little portable safe in the boot of your car.

Down this way, mate, let's, er...

At this point, he's going to be further searched to make sure

he's got no drugs secreted on his person

that we hadn't been able to see initially.

He's been searched. There have been no further drugs found.

We've got to carry on with this investigation.

Because the man's under arrest for drug dealing,

the cops have the power to search any properties he has links to.

He's given an address at Cleethorpes

when arrested initially for the ASP.

He is now saying he is of no fixed abode, which suggests to me

there's potentially some further evidence there,

whether it be drugs, cash, or other evidence of other offences

back at the premises, so the priority will be now

to get the authority signed up and go and search the premise,

and see what we find.

If we can ask permission to authorise

-section 18s for the addresses, please.

-Yes.

-You'll need to find a pad, though.

-I shall go and hunt one down, ma'am.

Marvellous.

While the investigation continues,

the suspect will be detained in custody.

'I don't think he will be the major dealer in all this.'

He may be dealing on behalf of somebody else,

who doesn't want to get their hands dirty,

and that's the ones that we're trying to get to,

and we have to take off the smaller fish to get to the bigger fish.

80 miles north, at Killingbeck Police Station in Leeds,

West Yorkshire traffic officers Mick Jessop and Dan Robson

are only minutes into their shift.

We're responding to a call of a one-vehicle RTC.

It's a car into a bus stop.

Call from ambulance saying there's two people injured.

First job of the night.

Whenever a call of an RTC comes in,

you instantly think the worst.

Some of the scenes that you could face are horrific,

and stop with you forever, potentially.

Paramedics are already at the scene, along with several witnesses.

-You in t'car as well?

-No.

-No?

-I just made the call.

-Nice one.

-You saw it happen?

-Yeah.

'It was puzzling at first,

'because there was only one person with the vehicle'

but it became obvious quite quickly that there were actually

two in the vehicle at the time of the collision.

The driver is conscious, and doesn't appear to be seriously injured.

I've never known anyone in shock to walk away from a collision.

It looks as though he's been coming out of town, heading this way,

and it looks as though he's hit this bus stop

somewhere to the front of the vehicle,

and it's spun him round slightly.

It's looking like it might be something and nothing,

but the female passenger has walked off from the vehicle.

Straightaway at that point, I was getting suspicious

as to why the person had walked away from it.

Sorry to interrupt, have you seen this passenger in this car?

-She walked...

-She's gone round there.

-What's she wearing?

-A lady's gone after her.

-She had a backpack.

Immediately, I start to think we need to find this girl

'and find out what's gone off.'

Yeah, 3-6. This might be a long shot,

-but can you just see if you can find someone called

-BLEEP

-on our systems?

'TNC... No, it's not wanted.'

Looking for clues to explain the missing passenger,

Mick questions the driver further.

Have you got any cannabis on you at any point?

You've got a whiff of cannabis about you. Have you been smoking it?

Have you been around somebody that has?

Is that the other lass in the car with you?

She smokes it.

Right, do you want to come and have a seat in our car, then, fella?

-You say you've got the reg?

-Yeah.

-Right.

The female occupant of the car, who is allegedly smoking cannabis,

isn't here any more. She's walked off prior to police arrival.

There was a smell of cannabis in the Micra.

The driver has stated that the passenger had been smoking it.

That may have been why she left the scene.

She knew that the police were going to be coming.

She didn't want to be found in possession of cannabis,

so that's why, uninjured, she's walked away.

The front end of the car has completely disintegrated,

as cars are designed to do now.

They're designed to break rather than break the people inside,

and luckily, that appears to be what has happened.

The driver seems to have no injuries, but further investigation

of the car produces some interesting discoveries.

-He didn't have his seat belt on, did he?

-No.

-Because that's come in...

-That's an inside impact, isn't it?

-I dare say so.

-He's saying he hasn't.

Of particular interest is a crack in the windscreen.

He's got to have done. If he's not wearing his seat belt...

-There's no way you were wearing that.

-No, no.

Police collision expert Les Green checks the seat belt.

The airbag's gone off, it's fired the pre-tensioners,

but the seat belt is like a bowstring, which indicates

that the driver wasn't wearing it at the time of the collision.

That's his head that's done that.

And the inside, as my colleague's had a look, there's actually hair

on the inside, which proves that it has been done by the driver's head.

That bit of webbing across your chest that holds you in that seat

could prevent you from injury, minor or serious, even a fatality.

It's law to wear it.

More people out there need to recognise that fact,

and ensure they do.

The driver could now be facing a £60 fine for not wearing his belt,

and the injury's beginning to take its toll.

He's limping about, he's walking wounded,

-but apparently, he's had a nosebleed now, they're saying.

-Oh, right.

That's just from him head-butting the windscreen.

It's going to smart if you head-butt a windscreen,

it's going to cause that sort of damage. I wouldn't like to do that.

I've seen people killed just from not wearing their seat belt.

-Right, you're going to go up, OK?

-Yeah.

The driver is taken to hospital, and Mick and Dan are left to clear up.

Service to the people of Leeds!

'The amount of glass that was all over the bus lane'

and the pavement, around the bus shelter, it was tremendous.

This is the cost to the taxpayer of people not wearing their seat belts.

And driving like idiots.

We get a lot of the time, "Have you got nothing better to do?"

We do, but we got this to deal with.

If people wore seat belts and they drove more sensibly,

it wouldn't happen, and I wouldn't have a bad back.

'I think, really, it's only a case of luck

'that it wasn't a lot more serious than it was.

'If there had been anyone stood at the bus stop'

then there was the potential for it to go horribly wrong.

With no leads on the mystery passenger,

the cops call it a day,

but as they leave, Mick gets a call on his mobile.

The original caller for the RTC we've just dealt with,

he's rung back and said he's got some further information for us

regarding the driver's activities post-collision.

'He took a bag out of the car as soon as he got out,

'as soon as the accident happened, and he, like, put it in a bush.

'And then he took it out and gave it to her, I think.'

So, she walked off with the bag that he took out of the car?

-'Yes.'

-Right, brilliant, thank you very much for that.

'We could have really done with that information'

while we were at the scene,

when there was more chance of being able to locate the lady

and the bag with the items, these unknown items.

We'll do some knocking on some doors and see if we get anywhere,

but I doubt it.

Positivity, Daniel.

I keep telling you that I don't have a negative attitude.

'We did some door-knocking and went looking'

for the girl that had made off from the scene, but we couldn't find her.

We didn't have any powers to go in any houses looking for her either,

so, game over, job done.

In Grimsby, a young man has been arrested

for arming himself with a police cosh.

If you were to get hit by that,

it would cause potential serious injury,

so whilst it's taken off the street, it's all well and good for us.

And during a search of his car at the police station,

the reason why becomes clear.

18 wraps of amphetamine worth up to £200 have also been found.

They are prepared to go to any lengths to keep hold of the drugs,

and it's a sad state of affairs, really.

PCs Mark Panther and Martin Micklethwaite

want to find out where the drugs came from.

Obviously, the chap we arrested earlier

has been found in possession of the controlled drugs.

We've sought an authority from the inspector to go do a house search,

so we're just off back to his address to search

and see if there's any more drugs at the address.

Initially, he didn't want to give his address, and said he was...

..no fixed abode.

But paperwork in the car suggests he is living at an address

that we've got on our systems for him.

So we've got some keys. We'll go and see if they fit, and do a search.

The address is his parents' house.

Somebody's coming.

There is a light on. There we go.

If police were knocking on my door at that time of the morning,

it's got to be bad news.

Hi, mate. Sorry to bother you. It's nowt to worry about.

They do think the worst, but sometimes,

they obviously know their son or daughter very well.

Is it all right if we just step in a minute? Ta, mate.

You get all different kinds of reactions, really.

You know, relief that one of their loved ones is not dead,

which is obviously what they think of straightaway,

but then anger that they've been arrested

and their house is now getting searched because of their actions.

Does Ben live here?

There were no evidence or anything like that,

and the father was more than willing

for us to go round and search it.

His dad says he just comes in and out for a wash,

and he's only got a few belongings, so in all reality,

he isn't actually living there,

and his dad says he lives somewhere else.

So we've got to try and find that property,

cos if he is trying to hide something, then we've got to find it.

With no drugs found or any incriminating evidence

at the address, Mark and Martin obtain further intelligence

on where their suspect might be staying.

Yeah, we've come to another address,

which is an associate of the lad we've got in custody.

Some intelligence has come back to say

that there was 100 cannabis plants

seized from this address earlier on this month.

These people, trying to make as much money as they can

and don't care about anything else, other than making that money,

so we want to remove the drugs from the street,

protect members of the public and obviously,

deal with the offences that they're committing.

The occupant who did live here is in prison at the moment,

but somebody's trying to link the other lad

that we've got in custody today to this address, so we can go search it.

As they wait for authority to search the address,

Mark and Martin check if anyone's home.

Mail addressed to the suspect is found.

I will be in a second, mate.

This lad, to me, like I said earlier,

he's not the biggest player in the game, I don't suppose.

He's got 18 or 20 wraps or deals within his case.

He'll be going off and dealing on behalf of somebody else.

When you can see the state of his car, it is a bit of a shed.

He doesn't look to be doing too well from his drug dealing.

We've managed to get into the communal area, which...

The door was open.

-We've found mail addressed to Mr

-BLEEP

-on a windowsill

and down the bottom of the stairs.

However, the keys that we've brought with us

from custody don't fit the lock.

From looking through the letter box, it does look unoccupied.

There's nothing at all in there.

We're trying to establish whether it's a previous address

or it is his current address.

If we can establish that, then we may have to force entry

just to make sure that there is nothing in there

that he doesn't want us to find.

You just want to get the drugs off the street,

because you know the misery it can cause families

and people's lives, and communities' lives.

Drug users end up committing offences to fund the drugs,

and these offences then have a knock-on effect,

so it's like a domino effect, really.

We've got to go to the top and stop that from happening.

With no evidence of any wrongdoing at either of the addresses searched,

back at the police station,

the suspect's belongings are bagged for further analysis.

-That's the...

-MOBILE PHONE BUZZES

..his phone that's been bagged up and sealed is very active still.

The phone's constantly ringing, it's constantly receiving messages.

It becomes a sole purpose for people, is to get the next hit of drugs,

so they end up stealing from their families or committing petty crime,

and the crime builds up and builds up as they need more drugs.

Since 2008, the Regional Roads Crime Team have made more than

3,000 arrests and seized drugs worth over £31 million

throughout Yorkshire and Humberside.

The young man found with the police cosh and 18 wraps

of amphetamine in his car admitted possession of an offensive weapon,

possession with intent to supply, and driving without insurance.

He was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence.

The young woman arrested for failing to attend a drug referral programme,

who was further arrested for theft and assault,

was sent to prison for a total of nine months.

The man arrested by officers after his cannabis crop was stolen

in Halifax was given a police caution.

No action was taken against the men who stole his plants,

after the owner refused to make a complaint against them.

The wanted runaway arrested in Sheffield served six weeks

in prison for attacking a rival gang member.

No action was taken against his associates in the car.

And the drugs found on the suspect at Grimsby Police Station

were confirmed as heroin worth £200, and a £40 bag of MCAT.

He was fined £110 for drug possession.

No action was taken against any of the other suspects arrested.