STOPPING Greater Manchester’s most prolific criminals in their tracks is just part of the job for the force’s police interceptors.
Television programmes often see police interceptors pulling drivers over for having no insurance and for not wearing seatbelts.
Peter MacDonald - police chase
But low-level traffic offences are a minor part of the job as police working on the unit focus on hunting down fugitives who try to evade justice and to prevent crime gangs using the roads.
In the past 18 months the tactical vehicle intercept unit has seized about £2.5 million in cash and caught 1,400 criminals.
The 65 staff on the unit have also helped bring many of Bolton’s criminals to justice.
Most recently the work of interceptors put Peter MacDonald, aged 30, of School Street, Little Lever, behind bars for 12 months after he drove at up to 70mph while being chased by police for 10 minutes.
Most wanted fugitive Lee Seddon, aged 37, was involved in a high-speed chase through Over Hulton, Bromley Cross and Bradshaw before being arrested in Folds Road, Tonge Moor.
Mohammed Azad-Parvez - police chase
He featured on Crimewatch for a £70,000 cash in transit robbery and is now awaiting sentence. Ch Insp Mark Dexter, from the unit, said: “We will take anything on.
“We are here to take on criminals.
“We aim for the middle to upper tier.
“When we look at what we are dealing with, there’s an indirect impact on people but when you look at robberies you could be attacked and it could finish a person off.
"Finding those criminals is satisfying because it means somebody will not have to go through the same ordeal.”
Some of the officers at the unit, who work over three different shift patterns, have the authority to escort prison vans for dangerous offenders and drive in convoy during high-profile visits to Greater Manchester such as royalty and politicians.
The vehicles never stop to avoid the risk of being ambushed.
PC Chris Kitson, from the unit, said police work with partner agencies including housing associations to track fugitives but said the public play a huge role in helping the unit close in on criminals.
PC Kitson said: “It's a very rewarding job especially when you catch people, particularly when others haven’t been able to find them and when they get a good sentence in court.
“There can be risks involved in the job but you are overtaken with adrenalin.
“As you get older you become more careful but you tend to get caught up in the moment.
“I have had guns pointed at me and ended up in fights with people desperate to escape during my time in the police.
“There’s a perception that policing is very dangerous but a lot of the time you plan to make sure you have enough resources to neutralise the threat.”
The unit incorporates the Automatic Number Plate Recognition Intercept Unit, tactical vehicle intercept unit and the tactical crime unit.
It utilises overt and covert police vehicles and tactics to catch criminals.
MEN ARRESTED WITH HELP FROM THE INTERCEPTORS
- Samuel Reynolds, aged 39, from Atherton, who awaits sentencing along with 10 others after being found in possession of 1kg of cocaine. He was arrested after crashing into S and S petrol station in Manchester Road East, Little Hulton last year.
- Shaun Eldred, aged 30, of Victory Road, Little Lever, was jailed for 12 months earlier this year for ramming into an unmarked police car four times in a car.
- Benjamin Grimes, aged 24, of Tintern Avenue, Tonge Moor, was arrested by intercept unit and was jailed in February for 16 months of possessing class As drugs.
- Carjacker Thomas McDonagh, 35, was jailed for two years at Liverpool Crown Court in December for 22 offences including crashing a stolen car in Bromley Cross following a police pursuit.
- Baby shaker Andrew Rutter, aged 28, went on the run part way through a trial where he faced a charge of causing grievous bodily harm to his son. Interceptors traced him to Angle Street, Tonge Moor, after four months on the run. He was brought before Judge Timothy Clayson and jailed for six-and-a-half years earlier this year.
- Dangerous driver Mohammed Azad-Parvez, aged 34, of Albert Road, Farnworth, was hunted by police and arrested following a police pursuit in Bolton. He was jailed for 14 months for dangerous driving and was sentenced to a five- year driving ban.
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