About Us
Operational Support
Operational Support is headed up by Chief Superintendent Alun Thomas.
Operational support includes
Roads Policing Unit
The RPU is responsible for policing of the strategic road networks and motorways throughout Gwent. The team is predominantly police officers with administrative support provided by police staff.
ANPR team
The Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) monitors traffic in the Force area using technology that targets known offenders and those using vehicles without documentation.
The ANPR systems can instantly check thousands of passing vehicles an hour against various databases of intelligence. This includes information provided by police officers, Crimestoppers, the DVLA and other forces about vehicles who are suspected of committing crime, people wanted on warrant and those used by disqualified drivers.
Air Support
The Air Support Unit assists police officers in a number of ways, including pursuing suspect vehicles, searching for missing or vulnerable people, vehicles and suspects. The unit also help to contain suspects and maximise the effectiveness of officers on the ground. The helicopter uses a video camera to capture images that can identify people, places and situations for later presentation in court as evidence for the prosecution.
Traffic Collision Investigation
The Traffic Collision Investigation Unit investigate all serious road collisions within the Force area. They also attend major incidents to provide detailed plans of crime scenes, attend collision scenes to advise on possible causation factors and compile reports for use by the Coroner, Crown and Magistrates courts.
Safety Camera Unit
The Mid and South Wales Safety Camera Partnership brings together partners in the police, local authorities, magistrates court and health service to reduce the number of people killed and injured on roads, by reducing speeding and traffic light violations. The partnership also invests time and money into driver education, engineering improvements and targets enforcement where it is needed most.
Armed Response Unit
The Armed Response Unit is responsible for responding to any calls or tasking requests involving a risk of an individual or individuals being armed.
Firearms Training
The team, which is made up of police officers and police staff provides training to officers for the use of firearms and Taser, as well as subjects including Method of Entry. This unit also has an operational capability and provides tactical advice to firearm commanders.
Dogs Section
Dog Section Officers and their Police Dogs are used to provide support to police officers in locating offenders and evidence of criminal activity, preventing crime and conducting operational patrols. They also attend public order disturbances where they are used to protect officers and act as a deterrent. Drugs Dogs are used for detecting drugs, cash, firearms and ammunition, and Explosives Dogs are used for searching for explosive materials.
Support Group
The Support Group provides operational support to officers, a Force-wide search capability, public order training, method of entry and method of entry training, CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) and CBRN training, house to house enquiries and major incident support and planning.
Emergency Planning
The Emergency Planning Department plans for a range of emergencies that could occur within Gwent. Their work is largely governed by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, which requires the police and other agencies such as Local Authorities to undertake planning for emergencies. As a category one responder the Force has to risk assess and plan for emergencies, co-operate and share information with other category one responders, undertake Business Continuity Management as well as warning and informing the public.
