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Conference 2 UK

The second Pol-PRIMETT Annual Conference was held in London, UK on Thursday 22nd March 2012. The conference attracted over 70 delegates from nine EU Member States and discussed a range of topics relating to metal theft.

David Ransom, Pol-PRIMETT Project Director and Chief Executive of People United Against Crime (the lead partner of the Pol-PRIMETT project) opened the proceedings by providing an overview of Pol-PRIMETT project activities.

Please click here to view the Pol-PRIMETT overview presentation.

ACC Alan Pacey, British Transport Police provided the opening address and stressed the importance of capturing information and sharing learning. ACC Pacey is responsible for overseeing Area Performance, Complimentary Policing, Cable Theft and Major Crime investigations within British Transport Police.

The first session focused on innovation and design techniques which were being explored to prevent and deter metal theft. Speakers included Bernie Rickinson, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3); Alison Clarke, Network Rail and Phil Cleary, Smartwater. 

Please click below to view each speaker's presentation from session one.

After a brief coffee break the second session on the analysis of metal theft began. Dr Stefano Delfini and Bartolo Amato from the Italian Ministry of Home Affairs and Charlotte Crabtree, British Transport Police described different ways to capture, analyse and utilise information on metal theft.

Charlotte’s presentation demonstrated how the reallocation of police resource to certain metal theft hotspots helped to reduce metal theft in key areas. 

Please click below to view each speaker's presentation from session two.

The lunch break enabled representatives from law enforcement agencies, telecommunication companies, utility providers, government agencies, trade associations, rail networks, recycling industry and universities to network and identify opportunities for collaboration in the fight against metal theft.

Session three enabled organisations to present successful examples of partnership working and collaboration which have been formed to tackle metal theft. Chief Inspector Robin Edwards, British Transport Police and Ian Hetherington, British Metals Recycling Association presented the outputs from Operation Tornado a trial scheme involving scrap metal recyclers in the North East of England. Launched in January 2012, Operation Tornado requires anyone selling scrap metal to participating dealers in Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland to provide photographic proof of identity.

This was followed by Chief Superintendent Bill Hotchkiss, South Yorkshire Police and Luke Beeson, BT presenting the new technology developed by BT called RaBiT – Rapid Analysis of BT Incidents. RaBiT alerts BT and the police when BT cabling has been cut and provides a map of the incident location directly to the police officers Blackberry to enable a rapid police response.

Please click below to view each speaker's presentation from session three.

The final session discussed the impact of the cashless system on the scrap metal industry and the EU Member State. The four presenters included:

Opinions on the impact of the cashless systems were divided with FEDEREC presenting the reduction in metal theft since the adoption of a cashless system, FER showing a video on the dramatic impact on the slums of Spain and BAR demonstrating the protests held outside the government buildings in Bulgaria.

Ross Bartley prompted an in-depth discussion on the topic of cashless systems and promoted the Swedish method of businesses volunteering to ‘go cashless’. 

Please click here to view the video shown by Alicia Garcia-Franco Zuniga as part of her presentation.

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