Hampshire Police launch new £1m road police task force

The five-man tasking team was launched on Monday, March 9, and will cover the entirety of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Acting Superintendent Emma Hart explained that the team will cover the “fatal five” road offences: speeding, driving while distracted, such as being on a mobile phone, impaired driving, such as while drunk or on drugs, driving without wearing a seatbelt and careless driving.

Acting Superintendent Hart explained: “We see all those offences overrepresented when we see people driving on the roads.”

She added that the team will also tackle other offences carried out using vehicles across the county.

She said: “If you are not carrying out offences on our roads, you do not need to worry. But if you are, we will catch you. We can be anywhere.”

Stephen Phillips, sergeant of the tasking team, said: “For us, it is all about getting our resources to have the best effect on road safety and crime in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. So, we will be targeting those most dangerous offenders who use the roads, and that can be for traffic offences or crime offences, and we also know that there are specific locations where, statistically, we are more likely to have a fatal collision, and we want to intervene in those areas. We will look at enforcement, but also work with partner agencies to see if we can work to prevent that in the future.

Acting Superintendent Emma Hart (left) and Police Sergeant Stephen Phillips (Image: Chris Atkinson)

“We will be using the various intelligence systems we have, such as ANPR, so we can conduct a tactical intervention when people are out using the roads and committing crimes.”

Sergeant Phillips added that one of the areas the task force will be looking at is the A33, at the Cart and Horses Junction in Kings Worthy, saying: “That is where we need to work with our partners, speak with local authority and look at opportunities to design out or reconfigure junctions so it is safer for the future.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said: “One death on our roads is one too many.”

She said: “When I was re-elected in 2024, there were three new priorities that I set out. It was cracking down on shoplifting, cracking down on rural crime and making our roads safer. This, for me, with our roads police conference which we held over the past week, is an opportunity to reaffirm and unveil to the public what we are doing.

“For me, it is key, one death on our roads is one too many, and sadly over 1,200 people lost their lives or were injured on Hampshire roads last year, and very sadly in the last month we’ve had two children die on roads in East Hampshire.”

Mrs Jones said that the tasking team costs £1m per year, and added that “This is a significant investment by me, as PCC, on the tasking team to pay for the extra vehicles, and I have done that because the public has told me they want our roads to be safer.”