Essex Police have refused to co-operate with villagers who want to buy and operate their own speed cameras.
Some residents of Hatfield Peverel want to follow in the footsteps of a pilot scheme in Somerset, where residents themselves operate a £2,000 speed camera to record the details of speeding vehicles.
Avon and Somerset Police then trace the vehicle owner and send a warning letter, but the driver involved is not prosecuted.
But Essex Police has judged the scheme creates more health and safety problems than it resolves notably that the volunteers run a higher risk of being involved in accidents and assaults.
A spokesman for the force said it could not prevent the villagers from buying and operating their own speed camera, but would refuse to use the evidence collected by them to trace the offending drivers.
Published Monday January 19, 2004
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