February Members' Meeting
The February Members' Meeting was held on Tuesday 7th February 2017 at the Knowle British Legion Club. The meeting started just after 7:30pm and lasted until just after 10:00pm. a good turnout of Members and guests numbering just under 40 enjoyed an interesting and humorous evening's entertainment.
The main speaker was Greg Woodward from Central Motorways Policing Group (CMPG), accompanied by one of his colleagues, Martin Smith.Greg started off by giving a brief introduction to, and overview of, CMPG.
The CMPG is made up of officers and staff from West Midlands, West Mercia and Staffordshire police forces. Their focus is to disrupt criminality and make the region's roads safer. The area covered by CMPG stretches from the Welsh borders to the northern border with Cheshire. This patch covers approximately 400 miles of motorway including eight motorway service areas. 24 hour CMPG patrols operate from three bases around the region. The headquarters is in Perry Barr, Birmingham with bases in Worcestershire and Staffordshire. CMPG also has a regional control centre in Quinton, Birmingham. They share the centre with Highways England, helping to create a close working relationship.
Greg covered criminality first, explaining how they targeted organised crime as well as random speeding motorists. He showed a video taken during a high speed chase on the motorway system, captured mainly by a police helicopter, since the suspected criminal was in a stolen high performance car (one of only two in the country) and was reaching speeds of 180mph, a speed which the police cars could not match. The criminal was eventually apprehended at his residence, and following his trial for various crimes related to burglary and theft, was jailed for nine years.
Greg then spoke about road safety, highlighting the 'fatal four' reasons for the majority of accidents involving fatality or serious injury: speeding, drink or drug related driving, non-wearing of seatbelts, and distractions while driving (mainly mobile phone use). He illustrated this with a description of an accident causing the deaths of a woman and two young children through non-wearing of seatbelts, and then showed a very sobering video concerning death and serious injury through mobile phone use.
Martin then spoke about the cars that were used to patrol the motorways (now mainly BMWs since previously Jaguar XFs had regrettably proved unreliable) and the incredible wear and tear on these, particularly to brakes and tyres. He described a typical 12-hour shift covering the many varied events that could occur. He stressed that, although allowed to speed while on a 'job' and with Blue lights flashing, police drivers were still governed by the same standards of driving and road safety as civilian drivers.
Greg finished his talk with a humorous 'you tube' video involving an American traffic policeman driving while miming to a Taylor Swift song on his radio.
All in all a very interesting and engaging talk which was much appreciated on the night by all those present.
Glen Bell
The main speaker was Greg Woodward from Central Motorways Policing Group (CMPG), accompanied by one of his colleagues, Martin Smith.Greg started off by giving a brief introduction to, and overview of, CMPG.
The CMPG is made up of officers and staff from West Midlands, West Mercia and Staffordshire police forces. Their focus is to disrupt criminality and make the region's roads safer. The area covered by CMPG stretches from the Welsh borders to the northern border with Cheshire. This patch covers approximately 400 miles of motorway including eight motorway service areas. 24 hour CMPG patrols operate from three bases around the region. The headquarters is in Perry Barr, Birmingham with bases in Worcestershire and Staffordshire. CMPG also has a regional control centre in Quinton, Birmingham. They share the centre with Highways England, helping to create a close working relationship.
Greg covered criminality first, explaining how they targeted organised crime as well as random speeding motorists. He showed a video taken during a high speed chase on the motorway system, captured mainly by a police helicopter, since the suspected criminal was in a stolen high performance car (one of only two in the country) and was reaching speeds of 180mph, a speed which the police cars could not match. The criminal was eventually apprehended at his residence, and following his trial for various crimes related to burglary and theft, was jailed for nine years.
Greg then spoke about road safety, highlighting the 'fatal four' reasons for the majority of accidents involving fatality or serious injury: speeding, drink or drug related driving, non-wearing of seatbelts, and distractions while driving (mainly mobile phone use). He illustrated this with a description of an accident causing the deaths of a woman and two young children through non-wearing of seatbelts, and then showed a very sobering video concerning death and serious injury through mobile phone use.
Martin then spoke about the cars that were used to patrol the motorways (now mainly BMWs since previously Jaguar XFs had regrettably proved unreliable) and the incredible wear and tear on these, particularly to brakes and tyres. He described a typical 12-hour shift covering the many varied events that could occur. He stressed that, although allowed to speed while on a 'job' and with Blue lights flashing, police drivers were still governed by the same standards of driving and road safety as civilian drivers.
Greg finished his talk with a humorous 'you tube' video involving an American traffic policeman driving while miming to a Taylor Swift song on his radio.
All in all a very interesting and engaging talk which was much appreciated on the night by all those present.
Glen Bell
