Hear about Operation Disrupt from our firearms team

Did you know our armed response officers also carry out regular policing activity across our county’s towns and villages?

When they’re not responding to high threat and risk incidents involving weapons they’re out on patrol. They support unarmed colleagues on our response teams, attend emergency incidents but also spend time focusing on hotspot crime areas to disrupt criminals who are known to be carrying out robberies, burglaries and other serious crimes.

They will also be involved in Operation Disrupt, using Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems to intercept criminals travelling into Staffordshire and to target those using our roads for criminal purposes.

Find out more about their work from Armed Response Sergeant Mark Pickard…

Name: Mark Pickard

Job: Armed Response Unit Sergeant

Years’ service: I have been an officer with Staffordshire Police for 11 years and part of the firearms department since 2006. Prior to that I worked as a Police Community Support Officer for Nottinghamshire Police.

How is your team involved in Operation Disrupt? As a firearms officer targeting travelling criminals is at the heart of our role and this work only intensifies with this operation. Firearms officers regularly intercept people who think it ok to come into Staffordshire and sell drugs or carry out other related crime; stopping the supply reduces the occurrence and negative effects of other serious crimes, including those where firearms or weapons are used to threaten or harm people. We work closely with other departments, such as the Roads Policing Unit and the Central Motorway Police Group, to monitor Staffordshire’s road network.

We work 24/7 to support local neighbourhood teams, either spending time in the areas where extra visibility is needed to deter crime, or patrolling in unmarked cars to carry out proactive policing to disrupt suspicious activity. As a department we have the resources, training and equipment (such as ANPR) necessary to make a real impact on criminal activity; helping to bring offenders to justice and safeguarding our communities.