Johnson to visit police road crime specialists

The Hull MP will tour the command centre at Hessle Police Station, inspect the new vehicle fleet and watch Lenny the dog, the team's newest recruit, being put through his paces.

The three-year-old springer spaniel joins with Pc Mark Thompson, and has been trained to sniff out drugs, cash and currency hidden in vehicles.

The Roads Crime Section can be deployed within minutes of a request for support, and can be linked to the communication system of any UK police force.

Since its launch the unit has made 2,175 arrests, seized vehicles worth more than 2.75m, drugs worth 2.4m, almost 1m in cash and 575,000 of property.

The team, two sergeants, 11 PCs, a specialist dog handler and three police staff has also seized 228 weapons from vehicles, detected over 1,128 crimes and had criminals sentenced to a total of 440 years in prison.

Its proceeds of crime seizures account for over a third of all cash, drugs, property and vehicle seizures made by the force each year.

Chief Supt Colin Andrews, the force's head of operations, said the team was focused on travelling criminals and had been extremely successful in the past five years. "The combination of technology, training and intelligence-led policing has been recognised as exemplary in the UK."