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The force’s specialist Road Crime Team (RCT) — part of the Roads Policing Unit — has made 227 arrests since April as it targets car key burglaries, vehicle cloning and serious organised crime across the region. Using unmarked, high-performance cars, officers have been pursuing and arresting offenders involved in theft, drug dealing and dangerous driving. Recent incidents include the arrest of a driver who fled from a cloned Audi in Yardley Wood. The vehicle had been stolen in a burglary and linked to further break-ins before officers blocked it in and chased the suspect on foot. In another case, officers stopped a motorist who was spotted on the M6 in Birmingham rolling a cannabis joint with no hands on the wheel. The driver tested positive for both cocaine and cannabis. Other successes include the recovery of a stolen Mitsubishi Outlander in Stechford, the arrest of a man who tried to ram officers in a cloned Nissan Micra, and the seizure of an illegally modified e-bike being ridden on the M6. The RCT works alongside the force’s Road Harm Prevention Team (RHPT), which focuses on tackling the “Fatal Four” driving offences — speeding, drink and drug driving, mobile phone use, and not wearing a seatbelt. Together, they form part of West Midlands Police’s wider Vision Zero strategy, aimed at halving deaths and serious injuries on the region’s roads by 2030 and eliminating them entirely by 2040. Since April, officers have also seized £365,000 in cash alongside the millions in drugs and stolen vehicles. A police spokesperson said: “ Our officers are working 24/7 as we aim to achieve Vision Zero - working with partners such as councils and the West Midlands Combined Authority to halve the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads by 2030, and to reduce it to zero by 2040."
