The M6 Experiment
The Motorway Problem
The opening of the first section of the M.1 motorway created a problem new to the police of this country - that of supervising extremely fast, six-lane, almost self-contained highways. In 1959, therefore, a small team of chief officers of police visited Germany and Holland to study well-establisted police motorway patrol methods in those countries and the subsequent report became a blueprint for motorway policing in this country.
It was recognised from the beginning, however that a great deal more would be learned as time went on about policing motorways and that a central fund of knowledge based on the experience gained would be of the greatest value to the Police Service, police authorities and the general public. Accordingly, the working part referred to in the statement made to Parliament was set up by the Home Secretary in 1962, to consider whether useful advice could be produced for chief officers of police and police authorities about the policing of motorways and comparable through routes. The working party after considering proposed basic scales of personnel and equipment thought it right to ask the newly set up Home Office Police Research and Panning Branch to make a scientific evaluation of the problem.
It will be remembered that the branch is staffed by scientists and police officers and the first point they had to consider was that the existing motorway system (now approximately 250 miles) wold probably be increased to 1,000 miles in the next decade. The second point was that the technical sub-committee of the working party had recommended that the scale of policing for motorways and comparable through routes should vary between a patrol car and motor cycle for every 20 - 30 miles of carriageway by day and a patrol car for every 40 - 60 miles of carriageway by night.
It had been estimated that if the existing motorway system and the comparable through routes were to be policed on this scale a traffic force of over 6,000 men and approximately 1,800 vehicles would be required. The cost would be over £11.5 million and, although it would require a number of years to recruit, train and make operational such a force and costs would be spread over this period, it was necessary to make out an extremely good case before such expenditure could be undertaken. It could be said that the demands of accident prevention alone are sufficient justification for the cost, but there is no clear indication that such a force, using present methods, would have the desired impact on the problem.
The Pilot Study
It was decided that an early task of the Police Research and Planning Branch was to ascertain how the various forces were coping with the problems of policing motorways. This study was commenced in the latter part of 1963, when already there were many lengths of motorway policed by different forces and visits to seven of them were made in what has become the pilot study of the problem.
Some variation in scales of policing was apparent and this to a great extent was due to the very short lengths of motorway in some police districts which cannot always be policed to a national pattern. This is partially being overcome by co-operation between adjoining forces, but different types of vehicles are already being used and there seems a danger that standardization may not be maintained.
It is probably true that complete standardization is not essential but there is little variation in motorways throughout the country and it seems reasonable to assume that an ideal common policy is possible. The motorway accident, incident and traffic offence rates in the seven force areas were studied as being likely to give some indication of the relative effectiveness of the methods used. It was found, however, that although as expected the various scales of policing affected the number of incidents attended and the number of offences reported, the degree of police activity apparently had little effect on the accident rate per mile, which is substantially the same in all areas.
It will therefore be appreciated that although a great deal of information was obtained the pilot study did not produce any clear-cut evidence which would indicate the most effective scales and methods of policing - nor had any account been taken of modern surveillance methods such as closed-circuit television.
The Experiment
A field experiment was therefore agreed upon, the main objects of which were to examine:
(i) The effectiveness of the present traffic patrol organisations;
(ii) the advantages of combined force traffic patrol organisations;
(iii) the value of helicopters to both the current and combined force methods of policing;
(iv) the effect of various levels of policing upon accident, offence and incident rates;
(v) the administrative and technical problems which might result from combining forces, e.g., communications, vehicle maintenance;
(vi) the value of mechanical and electronic aids for surveillance and control.
The M6 motorway was selected for the experiment, mainly because it is the longest single stretch of motorway (88 miles) in the country and only three forces are concerned in its policing, a point of some importance in view of the considerable communications problems involved.
It was decided to arrange the experiment in two phases:
(i) Combined Cheshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire force motorway policing under one command from the 9th March to the 6th June 1964, inclusive;
(ii) separate force motorway policing under separate commands from the 7th June to the 26th June 1964, inclusive.
During both phases a helicopter was superimposed on the ground patrols for the purpose of assessing its relative effectiveness. The machine, a Bell 46J, was a charter with its pilot and ground engineer from British European Airways (Helicopters), Ltd. A police observer was carried and it was intended that it should normally fly four hours a day, five days a week, at varying periods. To facilitate recognition from the helicopter the call signs of the motorway cars had been painted on the roofs.
The patrol height of the helicopter was 200-400ft. and to avoid distraction to motorists and to give a wide angle of vision to the observer it was usually flown well to the side of the motorway. It was available for special traffic control on and off the motorway, e.g., at holiday time, although this had to be carefully planned as its flying time on full tanks was about two hours or 160-180 miles.
Phase One
Strength
The combined force was placed under the command of the traffic chief superintendent of the Lancashire constabulary and the combined force headquarters was set up at the police post in the Knutsford Service Area, in Cheshire on the M6. The details of the force are as follows...
Staffordshire - Personnel
Chief Superintendent = 0
Inspector = 1
Patrol Sergeant = 2
Patrol Constables = 19
Control Constable = 1
Aircraft Observers = 1
Vehicles (White)
Supervisor Cars = 1
Estates or Cars = 4
Motorcycles = 3
Cheshire - Personnel
Chief Superintendent = 0
Inspector = 1
Patrol Sergeant = 2
Patrol Constables = 19
Control Constable = 1
Aircraft Observers = 1
Vehicles (White)
Supervisor Cars = 1
Estates or Cars = 4
Motorcycles = 3
Lancashire - Personnel
Chief Superintendent = 1
Inspector = 1
Patrol Sergeant = 3
Patrol Constables = 25
Control Constable = 2
Aircraft Observers = 1
Vehicles (White)
Supervisor Cars = 1
Estate or Cars = 7
Motorcycles = 6
The motorway had been divided into six sections, each approximately 15 miles long (30 miles of carriageway) and a car and motorcycle normally patrolled each section by day, and one car normally covered two sections by night, as follows...
90 miles, one motor car and one motorcycle for each 15 miles ( 30 miles of carriageway) = six sections.
- 8.00am to 4.00pm or 6.00am to 2.00pm = 12 personnel for cars, 6 for motorcycles and 0 for supervisor cars. Vehicles included 6 cars and 6 motorcycles.
- 4.00pm to 12 midnight or 2.00pm to 10.00pm = 12 personnel for cars, 6 for motorcycles and 0 for supervisor cars. Vehicles included 6 cars and 6 motorcycles.
- One motorcar for 30 miles (60 miles of carriageway) = three sections
- 12 midnight to 8.00am = 6 personnel for cars. Vehicles included 3 cars only.
This, of course, was substantially in accordance with the scales of policing recommended by the working party sub-committee, but as the experiment progressed the scale of policing was varied and the crews interchanged.
Obviously, it was important that the experiment should in no way interfere with the normal policing of the motorway and operational requirements should take precedence over the experiment. Subject to this, however, it was intended to assess the duties actually carried out by the patrols and also the police action taken in regard to certain “artificial incidents” which would be injected by the Police Research and Planning Branch. Briefly, the reason for the “artificial incidents” was that the resultant police action could be assessed under controlled conditions. For example, the time, date and place of such incidents were pre-arranged and kept confidential and the scale of policing at the time was, of course, known. The only unknown quantity was if and how the incident was to be dealt with by the police and the task of measuring the effectiveness of any action taken was therefore facilitated.
A Lancashire Motorway Car an the helicopter used in the experiment
(Picture by courtesy of the Chief Constable of Cheshire)
Duties
The duties of car crews and motorcyclists were those of normal traffic patrolling - example, assistance, advice and law enforcement. It was hoped that the effectiveness of police patrols could be assessed and that it would be possible to pinpoint the most successful methods of operation. Generally, the scales of duty were 8.00am to 4.00pm, 4.00pm to midnight, and 12 midnight to 8.00am, but once again these were varied as the experiment progressed.
Administration
The experiment, of course, resulted in the temporary creation of another police force with its attendant administrative problems, which were complicated to some extent by the fact the area policed was a narrow strip of land, carrying a highway 88 miles long.
Special arrangements were necessary, for example, for servicing and maintenance of vehicles; disposal of prisoners and property; court commitments; submission of reports; circulation of crime information; and press relations.
Various types of reports and records were maintained in the three districts and it was necessary to adapt procedures to the needs of the combined force and the purposes of the experiment within the administrative framework of the forces concerned.
Combined Force Headquarters
The control centre for the combined force was established at the police post in the Knutsford motorway service area in Cheshire. These posts were not designed as police stations or headquarters but consisted of a mess room, office and store. A good deal of improvisation was necessary to enable the building to be used as a headquarters; the officer became the control room; the mess room was a combined office and mess room; and a mobile police station was used as additional office accommodation for the officer-in-charge and for meetings.
The control room was staffed throughout the 24 hours by police officers and during the day female civilian clerks were employed to deal with correspondence and to type the patrol officers’ reports.
Sub-stations, mainly used for refreshment and reporting purposes were at the police post at Keele, Staffordshire and Charnock Richard, Lancashire.
Communications
These fell under two headings; telephone communications available to the public, and police wireless and telephone systems. The motorway emergency telephones at mile intervals for public use are linked directly to the three forces concerned. It had not been possible to divert these to the temporary motorways headquarters, but this caused not considerable difficulty, as over 95 per cent of telephone calls received by the police from the motorway relate to breakdowns, etc, which would not normally be a police responsibility.
Police telephone links were, of course, provided without difficulty, but a great deal of improvisation was necessary to secure adequate wireless communications. It was necessary to utilize the existing schemes of the three forces, as the expense of providing a new scheme could not be justified for a comparatively short experiment.
The combined force motorway headquarters at Knutsford, Cheshire (Picture courtesy of the Chief Constable
of Staffordshire. Above: Indoors showing closed circuit television monitors, wireless sub-controls and
motorway operations map.
The first complication was that the Lancashire Constabulary schemes employ frequency modulation and the Cheshire and Staffordshire Constabulary; Home Office schemes employ amplitude modulation. This was overcome by “coupling” the existing Lancashire scheme (F.M.) with a special control set (A.M.).
In addition the following equipment was supplied:
- Motorway Headquarters - three two-way sub-controls on the three force frequencies;
- Helicopter - three channel two-way wireless equipment;
- Three Force Heaquarters - two monitor sets on the two other force frequencies;
- Two Motorway Sub-stations - Monitor sets.
The arrangements provided the following facilities:
(i) The motorway headquarters had direct two-way wireless contact with the three force headquarters and, by operating the talk-through procedure, had contact with police vehicles on the motorway and with the helicopter;
(ii) the separate force wireless schemes were preserved; i.e., on receipt of emergency calls from the motorway each for could either direct a police vehicle to the scene by wireless or, if appropriate, request motorway headquarters to take the necessary action.
(iii) each force could monitor messages being passed by the two other forces; and could contact the helicopter direct if it was then using the appropriate frequency, or otherwise by direct wireless request to the motorway headquarters or monitor request to the force on whose frequency the helicopter was then operating;
(iv) communication between motorway vehicles and the helicopter was possible by operating the talk-through procedure.
After initial “teething” troubles the system worked satisfactorily. It must be remembered the wireless problem was unusual, as linear communications as opposed to area communications were required and, obviously, multi-channel sets in the vehicles would have been of greater operational value.
Phase Two
For this phase of the experiment, which lasted only three weeks, the motorway patrols reverted to normal; the motorway headquarters as such ceased to exist and each force resumed control of its own section of motorway. The effectiveness of this system was then compared with that of the combined force.
Inspection of Parade by Sir Edward Dodd C.B.E
(Picture courtsey of the Chief Constable of Cheshire)
Collection of data
To enable both phases of the experiment to be assessed by the Research and Planning Branch a great deal of data was obtained. Briefly, this included returns of motorway emergency calls; each traffic officer’s duties; utilisation of motor vehicles; traffic department establishments; road mileages; and accident and traffic offence rates.
Remembering that police problems are usually greater on ordinary roads than on motorways, the returns were required in respect of all roads. The study was not limited, however, to the three forces co-operating in the experiment and 11 other forces were requested to supply similar information during the progress of the experiment.
Technical Aids
The opportunity was taken to study various modern developments which might be of assistance to the police. Closed circuit television cameras were installed at several points with monitors in the motorway headquarters. Experiments in the use of cameras were made both in cars and the helicopter and various forms of lighting and protective clothing were tried out.
Conclusion
It should not be thought that combined forces and helicopters are necessarily the pattern for future policing of motorways and major roads. The object of the experiment was to obtain information which would lead to the most effective methods of dealing with the ever-growing problem of traffic control on such roads. Time-honoured methods of traffic patrol may not be the best way of carrying out the police task, but this can be decided only by organised studies and objective analysis.
The forces co-operating in the experiment and those supplying supplementary information were necessarily put to a great deal of trouble. Nevertheless, the police authorities, chief constables and the officers concerned were most helpful and willing in their endeavours to provide the information and assistance necessary to carry out the experiment.
The M6 Experiment
On the 14th February 1964, the following statement was made by the Home Secretary in the House of Commons:
“On behalf of a working party representative of police authorities, chief constables, the Ministry of Transport and the Home Office, the Police Research and Planning Branch has been examining as one of its tasks the basic standards of policing for motorways and major through routes, in the light of the experience already gained by the police forces concerned.
A considerable amount of work has been done within the branch, and sever forces with responsibility for policing motorways have been visited. It has been agreed that a field experiment lasting three months is needed, to provide practical experience in the working of a unified policing system for a complete motorway. This will be achieved by setting up a motorway traffic command which (subject to the continuing operational responsibility of the chief constables concerned) will direct all the police motorway units.
In agreement with the police authorities and chief constables concerned, for whose generous offers of full co-operation I am most grateful, it has been agreed that the experiment should be conducted on the M6 motorway. Officers of the Lancashire, Cheshire, and Staffordshire county constabularies will work in close conjunction with members of the Home Officer Research and Planning Branch in carrying out all stages of the experiment, including different systems of patrol organisation with and without the use of a helicopter.”
The experiment was inaugurated on the 9th March 1964, by Sir Edward Dodd, C.B.E., H.M. Chief Inspector of Constabulary, and this article is an account of the events which led up to the decision to make the experiment and the manner in which it has been conducted.
Combined motorway force on parade at the opening of the experiment by
Sir Edward Dodd, C.B.E. at Knutsford, Cheshire on the 9th March 1964.
(Picture courtesy of the Chief Constable of Cheshire)