New equipment for ARVs
A simple but effective idea is expected to save time and money when its rolled out across the collaborated Armed Policing Unit in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
A simple but effective idea is expected to save time and money when its rolled out across the collaborated Armed Policing Unit in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
The units head of collaborative fleet, Sergeant Matt Stein of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Firearms Support Unit, has been working with Thames Valley Police, car manufacturer Volvo and engineering company Safeguard to design and produce a new purpose-built load carrier for armed response vehicles (ARVs).
As well as two or three firearms officers, each ARV currently has to carry a mobile armoury in the cabin, which houses the firearms when not in use, and a vast array of equipment in the boot of the car.
The load carrier system will have modular storage for all the equipment firearms officers carry and an integral safe for the weapons all stowed in the boot.
As well as Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary, Thames Valley Police and Cambridgeshire Constabulary will also use the new carriers.
Not only is the new design easier to use, it is Volvo approved and fully compliant with health and safety by having the mobile armoury more securely stored in the boot. The modular design can be dismantled and re-built in any vehicles likely to be used by the Armed Policing Unit saving each of the four participating forces £30,000 over the next ten years.
The load carrier system is being built into the high-performance diesel Volvo V70 D5, which will gradually be rolled out as the preferred ARV across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Thames Valley to help reduce both fuel costs and carbon footprint.
The forces are part of the Chiltern Transport Consortium which also assisted in the design process.
