The Thames Valley Police rural crime taskforce (RCT) has been awarded the Rob Oliver Award for excellence in the fight against construction plant and agricultural machinery theft.

The team received the award yesterday (Thursday, February 2) from the Construction Equipment Association (CEA) for being the most proactive rural taskforce - the team made over 120 checks against the Construction Equipment Security and Registration Scheme (CESAR) database.

The force launched its RCT in March of last year and since then, has recovered around £1.3 million worth of trailers, plant machinery, caravans, power tools and other equipment.

Three Thames Valley RCT officers also received CESAR Champion awards for identifying different stolen vehicles through the CESAR database.

The three officers that received the CESAR Champion awards are:

CEA chief executive, Suneeta Johal, said: "The CEA has a long-standing and strong commitment to supporting the UK police force in the fight against machinery theft and we would like to congratulate the Thames Valley Police for their outstanding success."

Former CEA chief executive and director of CEE Ltd., Rob Oliver - who the award is named after - said: "In a time when police forces are under increasing scrutiny, it's great to celebrate the good work of the team at Thames Valley.

In 2022, the Thames Valley RCT completed over 400 investigations where 30.4% achieved a positive outcome.

Taskforce inspector Stuart Hutchings said the Thames Valley RCT is focused on tackling all types of rural crime in the area.

"Since the creation of the taskforce 12 months ago, the team has been dedicated to protecting our rural communities and creating a hostile environment for those that commit rural crime," he said.

"The taskforce is working in partnership with all our neighbouring forces and supporting each other in the development of intelligence and carrying out of proactive operations to target rural crime."