West Yorkshire Police stop 158 cars on first day of Operation Viper
by Lauren Wafer-Kiddle
More than one vehicle per hour has been seized by West Yorkshire Police in their latest operation to target criminals on the county’s roads.
Police have made 14 arrests and seized 17 vehicles worth over £65,000 in the first four days of Operation Viper – a campaign to target criminals who use the county’s roads.
The operation ran from 2pm on March 27 through to 6am on March 28. Police presence on county roads are said to have tripled.
The arrests were made for offences like burglary, theft, drug related crimes and going equipped to burgle.
Superintendent Pat Casserly, who is leading the operation, said: “The results from the first night of the operation have been fantastic.
“We seized 17 vehicles- that’s more than one an hour- which clearly demonstrates our style of policing which is lawfully merciless to anyone we believe is involved in criminality. If this means we seize their vehicle for having no insurance that’s what we’ll do.
“During the course of previous viper operations rates of burglary have been cut across West Yorkshire by 33%. With the start we’ve had I’ll be looking to build significantly on this and my warning to criminals this weekend is to keep looking over your shoulder as we’re coming for you.”
On the first day 158 people were stopped by police officers and 137 vehicles had their details checked.