Police man checkpoint in Operation Monaco

Operation Monaco was carried out between 2pm and 3pm in Padiham Road, across from the Spar shop on Saturday.

The dozen trainee officers, led by PC Dave Smith, police constable trainer for the Special Constabulary, were checking for insurance, licences, MOTs and vehicle defects.

The officers are training to be part of the Special Constabulary, the UK’s part-time police force which is made up of volunteer members of the public who when on duty wear a uniform and have full police powers.

PC Smith said: “This is all part of their training, their probationary road police training course. Basically we look for hot spot sites across the force, somewhere which could do with a hi-vis presence.

“It was a big success. There was a large number of neighbours who came out to say ‘thank you’ for coming out to this stretch of road.

“The main purpose of this operation is education, engineering and enforcement. It is a really good way of educating members of the public and ensuring we know who is travelling across borders.”