WPC Software’s ELVIS-VR vehicle recovery software is helping West Midlands Police seize a record number of unlicensed vehicles.

New powers introduced in 2005 to deal with uninsured and unlicensed drivers have led to a huge increase in the number of vehicles seized by police.

The ability to check number plates against insurance details has made it far easier for police to spot insurance dodgers and seize their vehicles. But many police forces, particularly those using paper-based systems for vehicle recovery, have struggled to cope with the extra volume of work that this has created.

One of the largest increases has been in the West Midlands where police have seen a staggering 70 per cent rise in vehicle recoveries. West Midlands Police is using a powerful computer system - Easy Link Vehicle Information System for Vehicle Recovery (ELVIS–VR) - to help tackle the rise in vehicle seizures.

ELVIS–VR is designed to help police forces deal quickly with unlicensed, untaxed or abandoned vehicles by speeding up communications with vehicle contractors and other organisations. It has enabled West Midlands Police to take its vehicle recovery scheme back in-house with minimum staffing by integrating the system with its command and control centre. This means that the force is now able to deal directly with removal agents and this has eliminated time consuming paperwork and bureaucracy.

ELVIS-VR is available to contractors over a secure internet connection and automatically sends a notification when a vehicle needs to be collected. All further information is recorded at source about the vehicle’s subsequent removal and the nature of its disposal. The ability to provide a full audit trail for all vehicle information can be vital in any case involving litigation and the time saved by removing the need for this information to come through an administration centre for processing has made huge efficiency savings.

“Since introducing the ELVIS-VR system the number of unlicensed and abandoned vehicles recovered by the force has jumped from about 23,000 a year to nearly 40,000 this year – an increase of about 70 per cent,” said Inspector Gary Bullock, of the Roads Policing, Operations Department at West Midlands Police.

“At the same time we have reduced the number of people engaged in vehicle recovery from 23 full and part-time staff to just three. These staff have now been able to take on other duties because of the time saved by the software.

He added: “Not only does ELVIS-VR provide real-time information on the status of every vehicle seized by our force, it also allows us to deal with a lot more vehicles with far fewer staff and speeds up communications with our disposal agents.”

Anyone caught driving without insurance has 14 days to provide insurance documentation. If they provide it, they are fined for driving without insurance, given six points on their licence and have to pay to recover their vehicle. Vehicles belonging to drivers who fail to provide documentation are either sold, scrapped or returned to their owners.

Before ELVIS-VR was installed West Midlands Police used an outside vehicle recovery operator but it could take weeks before vehicles were disposed of. This was because there was a significant paper trail of faxes and letters between the various police departments and the vehicle recovery operator and garages.

“With the old paper-based system authorising a request for vehicle disposal could take up to a week,” said Insp Bullock. “Now requests are processed automatically so the software has enabled us to fastrack the whole vehicle recovery process.”

Insp Bullock continued: “Vehicles being driven illegally and inconsiderately are a major cause of antisocial behaviour and are often linked to criminal activity. ELVIS-VR has greatly assisted the force in crime pattern analysis, helping us to identify problem hotspots where vehicles are regularly dumped or abandoned.

“As well as reuniting members of the public with their vehicles much more quickly, ELVIS-VR is also helping us deny criminals use of the road, making the West Midlands safer for everyone.”