Traffic Cops

Cops & Robbers (13x5)

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North Yorkshire is one of the safest places in the UK, with some of the country's lowest crime rates, but still there are an average of 5,000 crimes reported across the county every month. Many involve criminals using the county's roads as an escape route. And, with 3,200 square miles to police North Yorkshire's Traffic cops face a constant battle to catch up with crooks on the move. This episode finds officers from North Yorkshire's specialist Road Crime Team 'boxing' a reported stolen car on the motorway, but it's not until they take the driver into custody that they discover what their suspect has really been up to. On the north east coast, the cops are high alert after a spate of violent bag snatches in Scarborough. And when the police are alerted to another attack, Traffic Cop Mark Gonella joins the manhunt. On the outskirts of Scarborough, a foiled attempt to steal a van leaves the police with a good description of the thief and an accomplice's car. The suspect's car is soon tracked down using Automatic Number Plate Recognition Cameras (ANPR), and Scarborough's Traffic Cops stop the suspects in his tracks. However, the man in car refuses to take responsibility for his actions, preferring to put the blame on society for turning him into a criminal. Later, Road Crime Team officers spot another suspect vehicle, this time however their suspect isn't so easy to tame and the officer's £40,000 unmarked car is rammed by the suspect's vehicle five times. And, when a rookie Traffic Cop is nearing the end of his solo night shift - a report of another theft tests his patience to the full. A stop check connects the occupants of 4x4 Jeep to the crime, but with four suspects under arrest, the driver takes his frustrations out on the rookie.