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16
Dec 2024
Harrogate cycling group hails ‘improving’ police scheme to shop bad drivers
A police scheme that encourages people to report motoring offences has been hailed by cyclists in Harrogate.
Op Snap, a national police initiative which North Yorkshire Police introduced in November 2021, allows people who capture offences such as dangerous driving and illegal use of mobile phones to send the footage for officers to review.
It can lead to motorists being prosecuted or told to take a driver improvement course.
The Stray Ferret submitted a freedom of information request to North Yorkshire Police asking how many reports it had received, how many led to action being taken against motorists and what kind of actions were taken.
The reponse revealed a total of 5,956 submissions were made between November 2021 and December 2024.
Of these, 2,968 — or 50% — have led to action while 2,857 led to no action.
A monthly breakdown of the figures shows there has been a significant increase in reports since spring this year.
The freedom of information response said “outcomes depend on the quality of the evidence provided by the reporting person and whether it shows an offence has taken place”.
It added:
A police officer makes the decision taking into account the manner of driving, any external factors and evidence. If there are concerns, the police officer refers the evidence to the dedicated decision makers who determine whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute.
Positive action, it said, “can include educational letters, What’s Driving Us course, fixed penalty points and/or fine and court attendance”, but did not give a breakdown of how many times each measure had been pursued.
What’s Driving Us is a three-hour driver re-education programme that is an alternative to prosecution.
There is a discrepancy between the total of submissions to date and the number of positive/no further action outcomes due to the processing of each recent individual prosecution being at various stages of the process, the response also said.
'A distinct improvement'
Many of the submission are sent be cyclists. Malcolm Margolis, of the campaign group Harrogate District Cycle Action, said:
It's encouraging to see increasing use of Op Snap. In the long-term this may improve driving standards in North Yorkshire and increase safety for people on foot and on bikes.
In the past, police responses to Op Snap submissions have often been inconsistent and disappointing, but more recently there has been a distinct improvement.
The police FOI response refers to 'positive action' but does not give any more detail. It would be interesting to know in what percentage of cases the action taken is just a letter.
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