Violent Crime Taskforce (VCTF)

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.025694

I note you seek access to the following information:

I am here today seeking information on your Violent Crime Taskforce (VCTF)

So this unit is a pan-London resource tackling violent crime my questions are:

Q1) Are VCTF assets assigned to certain borough's at the start of shift via intelligence?

Q2) Does the Duty Officer utilise Hercules 01 as their callsign (just like Sierra November 1 would be ERPT Inspector, please correct me if possible)

Q3) Does senior ranks within VCTF have their own callsign or do they use vehicle callsign (ex- IRV/Area Car ect)

Q5) Does VCTF follow the same format for callsigns like ERPT?
Example:

IRV's would be Hercules 21/29 ect?
PTV would be Hercules 20/30/40 ect?
Area Cars would be Hercules 105/106?
Carriers would be Hercules 916 ect?
and so on

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

We do not routinely supply or confirm call sign information for operational reasons. However in relation to your request we can say the following;

Q1 - Are VCTF assets assigned to certain borough's at the start of shift via intelligence?

Yes our central uniform syndicates are deployed to BCUs on a daily basis via intelligence. Other uniform syndicate teams are deployed for longer periods of usually 12 weeks via Local Policing Tasking.

Q2 - Does the Duty Officer utilise Hercules 01 as their callsign (just like Sierra November 1 would be ERPT Inspector, please correct me if possible)

VCTF do have allocated call signs – these are not specific to the duty they are undertaking

Q3 - Does senior ranks within VCTF have their own callsign or do they use vehicle callsign (ex- IRV/Area Car ect)

Senior Officers within the VCTF have their own allocated call signs.

Q5 - Does VCTF follow the same format for callsigns like ERPT?
Example:
Incident Response Vehicles would be Hercules 21/29 ect?
General Patrol Cars would be Hercules 20/30/40 ect?
Area Cars would be Hercules 105/106?
Carriers would be Hercules 916 ect?
and so on

No VCTF does not follow the same format for call sign as response teams.