Roads Policing Unit
Cumbria's Roads Policing Unit (RPU) consists of 5 operating bases spread geographically throughout the County.
The Unit's personnel comprises 2 inspectors, 10 sergeants and 75 constables, who together, have responsibility for patrolling approximately 4,800 miles of county road network and 62 miles of the M6 motorway from Junction 35 to 45.
It is estimated that 217,300 drivers use the County's road network every day - equating to almost 45% of the Cumbrian population.
In addition to providing 24 hour, 365 days per year roads policing - the RPU also has responsibility to provide an armed response capability on the same 24x7 basis, in readiness to react to any spontaneous incident involving the use of firearms or other life threatening or dangerous weapons.
The RPU's primary responsibilities are (1) road casualty reduction via a mixture of education and policing of the County's road and motorway network (2) attend as a first response to any major incident occurring within the County (or neighbouring counties) (3) attend and deal with any fatal, potentially fatal or serious injury road traffic collision (4) provide an armed response capability (5) disrupt criminal activity on the road network, and (6) provide general support to the local neighbourhood police teams as required.
In addition to these core activities, the RPU also provides ancillary functions such as VIP and other high security escorts, road awareness training to schools and colleges, and provides the training to support the national 'Bikesafe' initiative, relating to casualty reduction amongst motorcyclists and scooter riders.
The RPU also works in partnership with many other agencies, e.g. Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service, Cumbria Ambulance Service, Highways Agency Traffic Officers, VOSA (Vehicle Operator and Standards Agency), HM Customs & Excise, and the DVLA.
The RPU vehicle fleet consists of marked and unmarked patrol cars, supported by marked motorcycles. The majority of patrol cars are fitted with in-car digital recording systems and ANPR (automatic umber plate recognition) equipment.
All the vehicles carry a range of specialist equipment to enable RPU Officers to deal effectively with the initial stages of any serious incident on the roads network.