Warwickshire Police has its very own team of off road motorbikes!

The team has been up and running now for two years and was formed to tackle the growing problem of nuisance motorcycle incidents throughout the north of the county. Such as mini moto's, off road bikes, quad bikes being used in parks, playing fields, public footpaths and common land. Persistent noise from these bikes has an impact on peoples quality of life and they present a danger when being ridden by inexperienced and thoughtless riders.



The project itself is a partnership approach to the problem with funding being obtained from Crime and Disorder partnerships, SNT's and local business's. The initial purchase of the bikes, equipment and training were all covered by this joint funding.



The machines are Competition bikes adapted for occasional road use, they are Yamaha WR250F's which are very reliable and capable of going anywhere (they will climb a tree in first gear!)



The police off road team are all experienced advanced Police motorcyclists and have been trained for this role at the Yamaha Experience which is an off road training venue set in 10,000 acres of Welsh mountains, run by Dillon and Geraint Jones who have both been British champions and ride the very same bikes that we use. The terrain during training has given them skills to cope with anything they come across in rural Warwickshire.

Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Police Forces all share a helicopter - better known as X-ray 55.

This helicopter is a EC 135T model. It is top of the range and boasts many features which include:

Warwickshire Police Officers, PCSO's and police staff are also assisted by another kind of officer - one with four legs!

Warwickshire Police have 17 police dogs that assist officers in their day-to-day duties. Twelve of these are general purpose dogs. One of whom is Rex, pictured. These dogs are taught to search for persons, be it missing persons or suspects, and for property that may be stolen. This is the majority of their work, although they can also be used to detain running suspects, are called to incidents where suspects are armed and can be used in Public Order situations. They can be considered to attend any crime incident, burglary, theft, assault, etc where the offender has made off, is likely to make off or in fact may still be present. With respect to searching for persons they can be used either in open areas or to search areas or buildings.

The dog will be tasked by the handler, either to track (following the smell of the suspects route away from the scene), or to open or building search (finding the suspect in a wooded area, building or similar) dependent on various factors that the handler needs to consider at each incident.


In addition to the General Duty Dogs we have 4 Rummage Drugs Dogs and one Passive Drugs Dog available. Each of these dogs are taught to find any common drug on the market and can again be used in open areas, to search vehicles or buildings. Generally Toby the Passive Dog is used as part of a planned operation as certain other aspects and support must be in place. The drugs dogs are either trained or are undergoing training at present to search for Weapons or parts thereof.