OFFICERS in North Yorkshire have been sharing tactics and skills with police colleagues from Amsterdam.

The Dutch officers from Politie Amsterdam spent four days with North Yorkshire Police’s road crime team, training and working alongside them to assist in the arrest of a suspected drunk driver.

Last year, two members of North Yorkshire Police’s road crime team travelled to Amsterdam to share their experience in proactive policing with Politie Amsterdam.

The visit was very successful, and the return trip last month aimed to continue the development of shared tactics and learning.

Two officers from the Amsterdam Team Opium Weapons and Unmarked Surveillance Team (TOWOS) and one officer from the Driver Training department visited North Yorkshire for four days. Sergeants Thijs Eekhof, Wilfred De Vires and Dennis Hagendoorn took part in two days of intensive training with the Road Crime Team, and then spent two days working on the roads of North Yorkshire.

The joint training covered the arrest of offenders from vehicles, and the use of hidden compartments within offenders’ vehicles to hide weapons and drugs. By sharing their knowledge and expertise, officers from both forces were able to develop their skills.

They later went out with Operation Hawk, where they witnessed how the team works operationally, making arrests and proactively searching known offenders. During their deployment, one arrest came from a Dutch officer spotting a German-registered vehicle. He was able to check it on his Politie mobile device, which showed the vehicle was incorrectly registered, giving the UK officers reason to stop it. The driver was found to be twice the legal drink-drive limit and was arrested.

PC Mick Roffe said: “This international collaboration has cemented the professional relationships between the two teams, and has opened the door to wider collaboration, such as the sharing of driver training. “The future of this joint working is bright and can only serve to benefit both the residents of North Yorkshire and Amsterdam alike.”

In August 2016, the team arrested nine suspects and seized property to the value of £57,000, including drugs, cash and stolen vehicles. Follow the team @NYPRoadCrime on Twitter.