Police plan to ask public to send in candid camera footage of dodgy driving

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Plans for a candid camera operation allowing people to send films of bad drivers to police have been unveiled at a council meeting.

Filmmakers could be encouraged to send in videos of rogue motorists and unsafe driving under the potential Durham Police scheme.

Assistant chief officer Gary Ridley said: “We are looking at introducing something called Operation Snap, which is the ability for the public to send in camera footage taken from their cars of what they may consider to be inappropriate driving, for the police to look at that.”

North Yorkshire Police, which already runs such a scheme, says on its website it is “to educate and prosecute drivers using footage supplied by the public” with videos reviewed by officers and offending drivers prosecuted or sent to an improvement course.

Motorists and pedestrians could be asked to send in footage of speeding or dangerous driving.

Measures like Operation Snap, and more bobbies and call handlers, were discussed at the Durham County Council meeting to justify a rise in the policing precept, which people pay as part of their council tax.

Durham Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Joy Allen said: “We want to invest in front line.

“We’re just starting a recruitment today for new police officers. That’s a real challenge for us to get those police recruited and on the street.”

With “just short of 200 priorities” in the new Police and Crime Plan, she said she wanted to know more from the public about where they want money to be spent in budgets.

This is part of a consultation for the next two weeks on the proposed precept rise of £10 per year for Band D homes – the maximum possible increase without a local referendum.