Crossing the Line Traffic Cops

-'There's another battle in Hastings.'

-I saw them shoot up there.

-'A battle against crime.'

-"Castle Hill Road."

'And it's the traffic cops who are at the leading edge.

'Cracking down on people who are breaking the law...'

You just broke the law, law man! One point to me.

-'..and people who are crossing the line.'

-Stop it! You are hurting me!

I've got a little bit of pain to my head. I'm not going to fight none of you.

A lot of people will have a lot of bravado and they'll play up and act the big man, as it were.

But a lot of people know where to draw the line.

SIRENS WAIL

'Creeping up on crooks and surprising motorists who are breaking the law

'has never been easier in Sussex.

'Especially when people don't expect the traffic cops to be patrolling

'in a brand new, unmarked Golf R32.'

'People's driving tends to improve significantly when they see a marked police car.'

It puts us in the same place in an unmarked car

to see what people's real driving is like.

And obviously to educate and prosecute people.

'When it comes to road safety,

'PC Quick, and his partner, PC Steve Desouki-Harmon, are hardliners.'

Is that a learner without a seat belt on?

'Some education is required.'

'It's been law for about 30 years now. And it still surprises me the amount of people

'that see it as their right to choose whether or not they wear a seat belt.

They don't think of what would happen if they were to have an accident,

even if it's only at 30 miles-an-hour.

'Some people still haven't got the message.

'Buckling up saves lives. Over 2,000 a year, it's estimated.

'And there's another reason to point the finger. The computer says he's not insured, either.'

JAMES BOND-STYLE MUSIC

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Hiya. Do you want to pop out for me, driver?

'Some people can be exempt from having to wear a seat belt for medical reasons,

'as long as they have a certificate to prove it.'

-Up on the pavement for me.

-Sorry?

-Up on the pavement for me.

-Any reason you're not wearing a seat belt?

-I just come from the shop.

-Sorry?

'But that's not this man's excuse.'

-Why weren't you wearing it?

-I was in the process of putting it on.

It should be on on public roads.

The argument was that he'd come from the retail park, nearly a mile away, and he was putting it on.

It doesn't take a mile to put your seat belt on. He should've put it on when he started the car.

Sorry, can you just tell me why you stop him?

-Because he's not wearing a seat belt.

-That's all?

-And there's no insurance on the vehicle.

-Rubbish!

-It is insurance. I can show you my insurance.

You follow me in my house and I'll show you the insurance.

'The man is adamant he's got insurance for his car.'

-That car is more legal than yours is, yeah?

-OK.

'He immediately was quite anti towards us, and "Why had we stopped him?"'

When the insurance issue came up, that really then put the icing on the cake.

'Proving he's insured isn't being helped by the fact that the man can't even prove who he is.'

-Right, so you've got no ID on you at all?

-'The man in yellow is beginning to see red.'

Look, if you get in your car and stop wasting my time, cos I'm a busy man,

I'll drive down the road and I'll give you the insurance. It's two minutes.

You can waste your fuel coming down the road.

-So you don't have any ID?

-What am I going to carry it for when it's going to get robbed out of the car?

Does that not make common sense? I wish you police would get that.

Now, when I lose them, you pull me over for not carrying them, yeah? So, what do you want?

-So you don't have anything on you?

-My house is just down the road.

You got five minutes, I got five minutes. I want to prove you wrong.

It's false. That car... The MOT place is just down there, yeah?

-You still haven't answered my question.

-I have answered your question!

-Who are you insured with, again?

-RAC.

-The gentleman says he is insured with the RAC.

He kept telling us he was with the RAC and he was fully insured, et cetera, et cetera,

but if I believed that every time, I'd never do any work.

-We're phoning the RAC. Where you going?

-I'm sorting out my car, do you mind? Get out my way!

-Take the keys.

-OK.

I'm not going to run away. You've got the keys.

-You need to calm down.

-Well, get out of my face then!

-Get out of my face, yeah?

-You don't tell me what to do. We're checking it out to see if you're insured.

-I pay your taxes, mate.

-Do you? I pay my own taxes.

-And your wages, yeah?

'And now he's going to pay the price, £60 for not wearing his seat belt,

'and until it's established he's got insurance, he's not going anywhere.'

He obviously thinks he is Mr law-abiding, and how dare we stop him.

-Right, happy now?

-That's yours. Thank you very much.

-Pat on the back for that.

-Get a new stripe on your hat for that.

-Right, we need to wait for your insurance to come back.

-And if that insurance is right, I'm going to have you. Big time.

-All right. Fair enough.

-Is that all?

-You can sit in your car and wait.

-No, no, no.

Ah, you just broke the law. I'm not sitting inside a car that you're saying is not insured

cos I'm on a public highway. You just broke the law, law man! One point to me.

A lot of people will have a lot of bravado, especially when there are other people around.

They'll play up and act the big man.

-Get on your fancy phone and do your job.

-Hello.

-'At last, there's an answer from the RAC.

-'The big man is relishing getting one over on the traffic cops.'

-Come on then, let's have it.

'But he's not going to like the news.'

Sorry, which bit is wrong? Which bit is wrong again?

Oh! A typing error by the insurance company, well, bugger me!

Oh, I'll tell him, OK. OK. Thanks for that. Bye.

-Come on then. Let's go.

-Are you going to shut up long enough for me to explain what the problem is?

There's a typing error by the insurance company on the registration.

-Did you do it on the Internet?

-Me? Yeah.

-It will be your error, then.

-Rubbish. I got a document at home saying what's on it.

-It was on phone.

-GN06 GXH so don't tell me ...

-But your vehicle is YN06?

-Yeah?

-So that vehicle is not insured.

-Just give me the keys. It's insured.

-You've got to phone the RAC and get a new certificate.

-OK. Come on, then.

-So, let's just go over this. Because of your mistake,

your putting the number plate wrong on the RAC, that's what's led us to all of this today, sir.

-No, it's not that!

-You've got no-one else to blame but yourself. Have a good day, put your seat belt on.

-You really don't have anything to do better than this?

-Nice to meet you. Have a nice day.

All the way through it he thought he was in the right. Even though it was obvious that he wasn't.

Any little victory he could get against us, he was trying it.

-Happy chappy!

-That's it. He's obviously brave cos he's put his seat belt on.

-Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

-He's still going.

-What's all that about?

'Teamwork is a crucial part of a traffic cop's job.

'And nowhere is that more important than on long night shifts.

'Luckily, PCs Phil Mann and Mark Bassett get on pretty well together.'

A lot of people say we're like two nagging women when we get together.

But we work well off each other.

For our ideas, good cop, bad cop kind of thing.

'They've got automatic number plate reading cameras fitted to their car with added night-vision capability.

'Driving in the dark, doesn't mean driving incognito.'

COMPUTER BEEPS

'The ANPR computer says there's a problem.'

It's a Ford Fiesta with no insurance.

'Myself and Mark spotted this car that went past us quite quick.

'Automatically activated the ANPR camera.

'Mark very quickly PNC'd it as we turned round. It came up as no insurance.

So we went to follow it. That's when it parked up very quickly.

Can we just have a chat? Hello there, how you doing?

-You all right? Is that your car?

-All right, Stella.

Do you want to stick your head just in that car? My colleague will explain what's on there.

This is an MDT computer. It has a database to the insurance.

-When your car went past, it showed it's got no insurance, for some reason.

-Right, OK.

-Has it got any insurance?

-Not at the moment, no.

-That's why you got out and quickly legged it, yeah?

-Yeah.

-OK, then.

-Has it got tax?

-It has at the moment, yeah.

-It has. Have you got your licence on you?

-Not at the moment.

-Have you got any ID on you?

-I wasn't actually driving it, so...

-Who was driving it?

-My mate.

-Where's she gone, or he gone?

-He's in there.

-Stella?

-Yeah?

-Do you want to tell us the truth otherwise we'll just rewind the ANPR camera?

'PC Mann's calling Stella's bluff with a bluff of his own.'

-So it wasn't you driving, is that what you're telling me?

-It was me driving.

-It was you driving?

Did you say it was you driving? OK.

Right, how many points have you got on your licence at the moment?

-I don't know.

-Well, we're going to bring it up in a minute, so...

-"RADIO: If there is any, I'll get back to you."

-Do you hold a licence?

-Yeah, I do.

-Is it a provisional?

-No, it's not a provisional.

-Are you disqualified from driving?

-Erm, yeah.

-Yes, you are?

We'll find out in two seconds, Stella.

'Stella's come clean about being banned. She knows she can't beat the machine.'

Expired substantive. Disqualified until 7/4/2012.

OK. Because of that, I'm arresting you on suspicion of driving whilst disqualified.

HE READS STELLA HER RIGHTS

Hang up the phone for the time being. We'll let you make a phone call in a minute.

Turn that off for the time being. Listen, turn it off!

-No, don't man-handle me!

-You're under arrest, OK?

'She tried to make a phone call to her boyfriend in the pub next door,

'which I wasn't too happy about her doing because,

for all I know, if she gets through to him and tells him what's gone on,

we'll have half the pub come out and try and get involved.

-HANDCUFFS LOCK

-Not too tight?

-No.

-'All prisoners get cuffed in Sussex, even women prisoners.'

-Just bring you round here.

'When we arrest people, we apply handcuffs. We personally put them to the back.

'That way they can't put them over the headrest of the car seat and strangle you.

'Other police officers have been assaulted that way. That's what we do.'

We put them behind her back and put her in the police car.

-Hello there, chap.

-I've lost my girlfriend.

-At the moment, she's under arrest.

-Is she?

-Yes, she is.

We're taking her to the station. She can call you from there.

-Can you phone my mum?

-I'll ring her mum, make sure her daughter's all right.

-Yeah, that's fine.

I've got my mum's phone in my bag so you'll have to get to her somehow.

He obviously saw the blue lights outside, he saw what was going on,

and he came to assist his girlfriend.

-Can I give her a kiss?

-You're not allowed to give her a kiss at this time.

-Aw!

'Not getting a kiss goodnight is the least of Stella's problems.

'Her real trouble is she's having to kiss goodbye to her car.'

-Why's it being seized?

-Because we...

-It's fine there.

-Listen, we have...

-It's fine there! Last time it wasn't moved! Give him the keys and let him take it.

-Stella! Calm down!

Give him the keys and let him take it! It's my car! You're not impounding it, you don't need to!

Give him the keys and let him take it!

-It's your fault that I'm here, Simon, isn't it?

-Stella, chill.

It's not his fault at all.

She's the one in charge of the car. She's got a brain.

'She should have used it a lot more.'

'Not using her head and getting caught driving when she's banned

'means Stella's facing the prospect of a long night in a police cell.

'But she's had enough of being locked up already.'

SEAT BELT CLICKS

-Why are you taking that off? No, you're not.

-Why not? It's hurting me!

-Well, then I can loosen it.

-I might be pregnant, can you stop handling me!

-Stella, listen!

-Get off me! Now!

Get off me! Get off me!

-You're hurting me!

-Stella, you're going to hurt yourself!

-Get off me! Get off me!

-You just keep struggling. You're the one...

Can you just let me put my... You're hurting me! Get off me!

-Stand up! Stand up!

-Oh, for God's sake, why are you being like this?

-Stop it, you're hurting me!

-SHE SOBS Right, out you get!

Oi, oi, oi oi!

'Pint-sized Stella is proving to be a handful for the cops.

'But they could do without her boyfriend's help.'

-That's a bit out of order.

-You saw her struggling...

-I know but...

-Don't rile her up any more, all right?

-Yeah, I'm not going to.

-Good.

-Do you understand?

-Yes, I do understand.

-Right, do you want to sit in the car or the van?

-I want to sit in the car, please.

-Right, keep them behind your back.

-You're so unreasonable.

-We are not unreasonable.

-You are.

-I was hurting and all I wanted to do was...

-Right! Stay there like that!

-I can't see how that can be uncomfortable.

-Oh, really? Have you tried it?

-Yes, I have.

-Have you tried a lump of metal in your back with a seat belt on?

-Right, we're going to try this again.

We hurt her pride, I think. She didn't like being arrested.

She was visibly upset at it. She was embarrassed.

'But the force we were using on her wasn't excessive.'

-You proper scared me!

-Listen, Stella.

-You're horrible.

-I've been nice to you...

-No, you haven't.

..in all my dealings so far. The reason I didn't want you travelling like that is cos it's unsafe.

The way you are is fine. You're not in any pain, I checked that the cuffs were OK.

'Now she's properly locked up and calmed down, it's last orders for Stella.'

'As well as having cameras which read number plates built into cop cars,

'the police in Sussex also rely on ones that are sited permanently at the roadside,

'in secret locations.

'Whenever a suspicious car goes past one, the alarm is sounded.'

One of the ANPR cameras, one of the fixed cameras in Hastings,

has just picked up a Ford Focus that's gone through.

That car shows as being stolen from a burglary earlier on today in Hastings,

so we're just going to head out that way, there's other traffic units going there, as well,

to see if we can find the vehicle.

'This car was still in the area where the burglary happened,

'which doesn't really often happen.'

Normally if people steal a car, they'll be gone

or it'll be found burnt out, but this one was still driving round,

so we had a good opportunity here to not only find the stolen car, but if we could find that,

we could hopefully arrest the people that were in it who may well have been our burglars.

'Now they're in Hastings, it's a question of hoping one of the units can spot the Ford Focus.'

'And the cops are in luck.'

'We came along the seafront listening to the radio, listening to the updates of where this car was,

'and it was heading right towards us.'

Fountain. That way.

-It's passed the fountain, I think, which is down there, isn't it?

-Yeah.

'A couple of hundred metres from where the stolen car now was,

'it turned right up another road

'and we saw it, we saw our colleague go after it.'

-I just saw them shoot up there.

-Was that them?

Round here?

The lights down there.

"Yeah, I've lost sight of it in these roads. It looked like it was two up."

'It's not looking good. The chances of recovering the stolen car with its two occupants are fading fast.'

-I just saw him suddenly do a right there.

-Yeah, he did.

'But all hope of catching them isn't yet lost.

'There's one more place to look.'

When we came up that road, is this the one we came up?

Before we took that left, there was a road before that, there were lights down there.

I don't know whether it's worth looking down there, just in case he has decamped from it.

-Just abandoned it.

-The little tiny road?

-Yeah.

It was the one before that left that we took. Might be worth it.

There were lights just down here where we went along.

-Could be nothing.

-We could be the quickest one to...

There it is.

I'm with the vehicle. With the vehicle.

-Where are we?

-Castle Hill Passage.

Castle Hill Passage. Vehicle's abandoned. No-one with it.

'It's a double-edged sword, really.'

Very, very pleased that that was the car,

but equally quite gutted that there was no-one in it.

Yeah, it's...

'It hadn't been there long. It can't have been there long.

'Perhaps a minute since I'd seen the brake lights, or the lights.'

I'm going to have a run down there, see if anyone's around.

'There was a small, wooden gate on the left-hand side and some shrubs. I checked in there.

'It was all quite dark and dingy in there, but a good hiding place.'

That's clear.

'There's nothing to say they would've gone any distance. We just didn't know at that point.

'So we ran further down the road.

Sadly, by the time we got to the bottom, it's quite a busy area,

and they could've gone anywhere from there.

There's so many people around, it's...

'The cops have run up a blind alley. Their last chance is to call in the dogs.'

I didn't want to move in case they came out and drove off in it.

'While PCs Hobbs and Hall wait for a sniffer dog to come...

'..news is coming in of an accident that's just happened 40 miles along the coast in Brighton.'

'PC Dan Pattenden is on his way to the scene.'

Yeah, I've got it on my terminal now.

'The call came in that there was a single vehicle crash

'which had occurred at the Lewes Road junction in Brighton.'

'The traffic cops only get called to the more serious road accidents.'

'As we've arrived,

'the fire brigade were already on scene.'

'The fire crews have rescued three people from the wrecked vehicle.

'One of them, a woman in the front passenger seat, is seriously injured

'but another, the driver, has disappeared.'

It was one of the fire brigade that had said that

they'd initially been speaking to the driver who they described

and said that they'd then seen him walking off up the road.

'There's usually only one reason a driver would do a runner from an accident.

'They'd been drinking.

'Unluckily for him, he's been caught on CCTV.

'And the cops have got him.'

I've got some money in that pocket, I've got a phone in that pocket.

-Keep your feet down.

-I've got some money and a phone.

'Sure enough, he's either been knocked senseless or he is indeed legless.'

-Tell me your first name.

-Right, it's Adam. My first name's Adam.

I've a few notes in there. I've got some change.

-Keep your legs down, mate. We'll have a look, all right?

-I've got some change, a couple of notes.

-Help yourself.

-I'm not going to help myself, I'm just trying to make sure...

Help yourself, it's only change. A bit of money.

It's a bit of money. Help yourself. Take it. We'll go to the pub and have a pint.

'He was almost knocking me out with the fumes that were coming from his breath.'

So I arrested him straight away for driving whilst being unfit. I didn't need to breathalyse him.

'In the control room, they're taking a closer look at the man's crash

'and something very disturbing is coming to light.

'It looks like it's deliberate.'

'When we asked him about the accident, he did indicate that he didn't care if he died or whatever.'

'And it's all because he's had a bust-up with is girlfriend

'and has been consumed with jealousy.'

From looking with the CCTV, obviously he hasn't turned in sharp enough

and it looks like he literally tried to drive through the railings, if you like, on her side.

'The man's girlfriend is on her way to hospital with serious injuries to her foot.

'But she's been able to make allegations that back up the cops' suspicion about the crash.'

'She indicated that he was making threats and had threatened to kill her.'

'There's been another development.

'Witnesses have said they saw the man try to crash his car before it smashed into the railings.

'He's crossed the line. It appears he has tried to kill his girlfriend.'

So obviously it was a deliberate attempt at trying to hurt someone,

then you're looking down the lines of assault or, on this occasion,

it was being looked at as an attempted murder initially until we knew otherwise.

-You all right with this shut now?

-Yeah, yeah.

-I haven't drunk nothing!

'Adam Hall is going to be arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

'A full-scale investigation has swung into action.

'Sergeant Melanie Doyle is preserving any evidence there might be

'at the site of the initial incident.'

My traffic officers had taken the driver into custody

so I went back down to take control and command of the scene itself

and assess what needed to be done.

'Witnesses have described the vehicle doing handbrake turns,

so you could practically map out its path by the marks it had left on the road.'

I'm just trying to mark it before it disappears

so that I can see a little bit.

I've called in CRU and they'll do a lot more work here,

but at the moment, I'm just marking, for my own view, what I've got.

It was fairly clear from what we could see of the marks

that the vehicle had been driven northwards up the Lewes Road,

for whatever reason, the driver decided to steer the car,

for want of a better word, straight into a parked car.

Whether it be to scare the passenger or to actually cause her injury, I don't know.

But then he immediately carried on driving,

drove off again, did a U-turn right across the road,

accelerated hard and at the last second turned hard right into Elm Grove,

not making the turn at all and careering straight into the railings where it all came to a stop.

'With the charges so serious and the evidence stacking up,

'it's necessary for CID to take up the case.'

So the indications we're getting are that it was a deliberate attempt to drive into there

and a deliberate attempt to crash up there.

And it's her side here.

Erm, it's dead centre up there. It was the dead centre of the car that hit the post.

-Both bags have gone and they've both hit the windscreen head-on.

-OK.

-Head-in.

He could've killed somebody. Whether it be his passengers or a pedestrian

or anybody, he could've quite seriously injured or killed somebody

and his driving was absolutely appalling.

'Back in Hastings, there's still no sign of the dog.

'But there is word about the thieves who stole the Ford Focus coming in.'

"We've just stopped them now, two miles up at a recreational area on Priory Road."

Virtually at the same time that we must have found the car,

Dave and Nathan, who were another crew from traffic

that were working in Hastings, had stopped two people.

-They've nicked

-BLEEP

-just up there.

-Have they? Yeah.

I'd worked my whole career in Hastings

and he was a problem for us throughout all of it, really.

What's his latest, Lizzie?

He was a prolific car thief. He was the youngest car thief in the county

-or in the country.

-He was at one point.

-He couldn't see over the steering wheel.

So he likes to nick cars.

He was so small when he started doing it,

I think he had to sit on cushions and stuff

in order to be able to nick these cars that he was taking.

'To nick any of the suspects caught nearby,

'the cops are going to need good evidence to link them to the car.

'Without it, the writing will be on the wall.

'Even though they've caught some suspects,

'the dog's still got some work to do.'

'When the dog came, they did what I believe is called a confirmation track

'and they've tracked from the car, lo and behold, to where these two lads have been stopped by Dave and Nathan,

'which obviously confirms that that's the route that they've taken from the car.'

'The confirmation track isn't enough to solve the crime

'but it does strengthen the case against the young car thief they've caught and his mate.

'Like so often these days, the case will hang on forensics

'and in particular, any DNA which might link the suspects to the stolen car.'

'There was a lot McDonald's rubbish found in the vehicle.

'They've been examined and there had been a DNA hit on a straw from a drinks cup.'

'And even better, the thieves' drive-through happy meal was captured on camera.'

'The CCTV presented a nice image of the three lads

'going through a McDonald's drive-in in this stolen car,

'which was quite damning, really, I think.'

You don't get things like that happen very often. We're not usually so lucky.

'But unluckily, it couldn't be proved that the well-known car thief was in the stolen Ford Focus.

'However, its driver, caught by the McDonald's camera, was recognised.

'He has plenty of time to digest his fast food.

'17 weeks in a young offender institute.

'Adam Hall was not charged with attempted murder,

'but he was found guilty of dangerous driving and drinking and driving

'and given a suspended nine-month prison sentence,

'a three-year driving ban and required to do 200 hours community work.

'And Stella, who thought it was all her boyfriend's fault that she was driving illegally,

'was found guilty of not having insurance and driving whilst disqualified.

'She was given a 12-month community order

'and six points on her licence.'

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