In last week’s review of our new Nextbase dashcam, I mentioned that, within 48 hours of having the dashcam fitted, we experienced a near miss which was recorded by the dashcam. So, we submitted this to our local police force’s Op Snap portal.
Most police forces have an ‘Op Snap’ (Operation Snap) portal; for example, where we live in West Yorkshire, there’s one on the West Yorkshire Police web site. If you have witnessed what you believe to be a motoring offence and have footage of it, then you need to submit this to the local police force for the area where the event took place, not necessarily your local force. So, if we saw something whilst driving in North Yorkshire, for example, we would submit to North Yorkshire Police’s Op Snap portal.
What happened
Because the footage has been submitted to the police and is, at the time of writing, being investigated, I’m going to keep the details vague and not share the video. We were stopped at a red light, and moved off when it turned green. Opposite us, a driver also moved off to turn right to cross our path, and almost hit us – honking their horn in doing so. Now, this is a junction we know well, and so we knew that this driver had gone through a red light to turn right. Indeed, this was one advantage of having both front and rear dashcams, as the rear dashcam clearly showed the red light.
I’m not qualified to give legal advice and I’m not a police officer, but I believe that the other driver failed to stop at a red light and did not drive with due care and attention. So, after discussing it with Christine who was driving, I submitted the footage to the police using their Op Snap portal.
How to do an Op Snap submission
If you witness something that you think could be a potential road traffic offence, then once you’ve found the portal for the local police force to where the offence took place, there’s usually a form to complete. Now, it’s important to understand what you are submitting. The form is a formal witness statement, and the video footage is evidence of potential criminal activity. You need to be aware of this because, as a result of the evidence you have provided, the police could charge someone with a criminal offence and this could go to court.
Whilst unlikely, you therefore need to be willing to attend court if this happens, and this may be a court near to where the offence took place. In other words, if you live in Yorkshire, but submit evidence to Surrey Police of an offence that took place on their patch, you could be called to attend court as a witness a long way away from where you live.
There is also a time limit on submissions. You need to submit the footage within 10 days of it being recorded, as the police have a 14 day limit to serve a notice of intended prosecution if they deem that an offence may have occurred.
The form that I filled out for West Yorkshire Police was straightforward, and structured so that the witness statement included the key details that they needed. At the end, I could then upload the video footage and submit.
What happens next
After submitting the footage, I got a confirmation email to say it had been received. Then, I got a follow-up email a couple of days later, telling me that the police would now attempt to identify the driver of the other vehicle. This presumably means that the police felt that the footage met their threshold for pursuing a notice of intended prosecution.
However, this was back in June and I’ve not heard anything since. As such, I don’t know what the outcome was. If this was their first motoring offence, then they may be required to attend a ‘driver education course’ which is similar to the speed awareness courses that drivers caught speeding the first time may be offered. They could also receive a fine, penalty points on their licence, and, rarely, be required to attend court. The latter is more likely if they already had penalty points on their licence and are therefore at risk of receiving a ban from driving.
I’m not sure if it’s standard practice to tell those that have submitted what the outcome was, but it would be nice to know I suppose.
Should you submit footage to Op Snap?
So far, I’ve covered the ‘how’, so here’s the ‘why’. If you spend any time on or near roads in this country, whether as a driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian, you will have undoubtedly seen examples of poor driving. Whilst speeding is hard to prove with dashcam footage, your dashcam could pick up people driving through red lights, ignoring traffic signs (like ‘no entry’ signs), dangerous overtaking manoeuvres or just a general lack of care when driving. These are all things that the police can deal with – if they’re aware of them happening. And that’s where Op Snap comes in.
Unfortunately, some people are just bad drivers, and they continue to be bad drivers because they do not face consequences for doing so. The police can’t be everywhere all at once, but dashcams and members of the public can help. Being convicted of one offence may be enough to encourage those people to drive more safely, if they know that their poor driving does have consequences after all. And if it’s not, then repeated convictions should hopefully see them banned from driving, and potentially having to complete unpaid work or a prison sentence if then found driving whilst disqualified.
People sometimes make innocent mistakes whilst driving, but by submitting footage, you may help the police find a pattern if the same cars and drivers keep coming up.
Plus, there are some people who become unfit to drive for medical reasons (unfortunately, this includes me, but I haven’t driven a car since my seizures started for the safety of myself and others). At present, it’s on individuals to report themselves to the DVLA as unfit, but some don’t – either because they don’t realise that their health has declined, or they’re told to be a healthcare professional but don’t as they see it as a loss of liberty. Being prosecuted for careless driving may be the wake-up call that some people need for them to realise their driving has fallen below the acceptable standard and to do something about it.
Incriminating yourself
There is one other factor to consider before you submit dashcam footage to Op Snap. The police officer who reviews your footage will be looking of evidence of a criminal offence, and your driving will be scrutinised as well. As such, you could put yourself at risk of prosecution, if your driving was also to a poor standard. This happened recently to a cyclist who was fined £1200 for his bad riding, whilst reporting bad driving.
I would strongly recommend reading this FAQ from West Yorkshire Police, from which a lot of the information here is derived, as it explains the process and what not to submit. For example, Op Snap portals shouldn’t be used for actual collisions, or other forms of non-motoring offences.
So whilst dashcams are primarily there for car insurance purposes, they can also help the police improve safety on our roads.
