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Operation SNAP is the police response to the ever increasing submissions of video and photographic evidence from members of the public in relation to witnessed driving offences.

Operation Snap will investigate road traffic offences such as driving without due care and attention, careless driving, the dangerous close pass of a horse rider or cyclist, not wearing a seat belt, contravening a red traffic light and contravening solid white lines, however this is not an exhaustive list.

Parking offences, abandoned undocumented vehicles, Crime, Disorder, Community issues and neighbourhood disputes. Collisions which have occurred (these may be reported from the collisions path within our website)

No. The police cannot enhance recorded footage, if you are unable to read the vehicle number plate from the original clip, then the police are unlikely to be able to read it when they replay the footage.

If you have footage of any other types of offences that are not Moving Traffic Offences such as crime or disorder then it is suggested that you contact the relevant authority which generally tends to be the police or the local authority and be prepared to provide them with your evidence.

To report a non-emergency crime or incident please visit the Devon & Cornwall Police contact us page

Please submit a separate report for each vehicle captured. This is because each driver will be dealt with depending on the individual circumstances of their case.

We are not able to process large volumes of lower bracket speed infringements. Processing speed offences is a highly technical area and evidence from Smart Phones Apps and Satnav is generally unsuitable on its own.

If there has been a serious physical or verbal act of violence during or following a driving incident then Operation Snap should not be used.

To report a non-emergency crime or incident please visit the Devon & Cornwall Police contact us page

You should include the traffic element of the incident in your crime report.

If the threat is happening now, contact 999.

Hearing or speech impairments

• If you have a hearing or speech impairment and you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service, you can use our textphone service 18000 or text us on 999.

• If you're a British Sign Language (BSL) user, you can call 999 BSL to use a remote BSL interpreter.

No. The Police cannot enhance recorded footage, if you are unable to read the vehicle number plate from the original clip, then the police are unlikely to be able to read it when they replay the footage.

Making a road traffic incident report | Devon & Cornwall Police (devon-cornwall.police.uk)

No, the device you use to record the offence will not be taken from you.

It will be your responsibility to ensure that the original footage is saved in its original format dependant on how it is stored on the device. This could be for example on the internal memory of the device or perhaps on an external storage medium such as a hard drive.

Please remove the footage from social media immediately. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice is that your footage should not be in the public domain as this may adversely affect any subsequent proceedings. Please fill in the Operation Snap web form and start the process with us.

No. Operation SNAP has been set up to capture moving traffic offences so it is important that police should view the offence as it occurs without enhancement or manipulation and in real time. We require footage of the moments before and following the incident you are reporting so that we may view what happened in context. One minute either side of the event is recommended and any relevant moments leading up to the alleged offence. This is to understand the context of what occurred.

Yes. As part of the Criminal Justice process, and in order to allow the police to deal with the offender in the most appropriate manner, you will be required to provide an accurate statement which reflects the footage you provide. This can be completed online, and the majority of the statement will be completed as a result of you answering some simple pre-formatted questions.

Yes. On average only 1 to 2% of all offences reported using Operation SNAP result in a court case but the police may not be able to prosecute the offence without you being willing to attend. The low number of cases heard at court is because Police often offer an alternative course of action to court such as a Driver Education Course or a fixed fine with points. When we do offer an alternative the driver must also be provided with the opportunity to have the matter heard at court. If the driver chooses court or fails to comply with an alternative offer, we must be able to prepare a prosecution if we are to place the matter before a Magistrate for consideration. Your evidence could be integral to the process.

When cases are heard at court, we have found the video evidence is so compelling that a ‘not guilty plea’ is rarely entered or continued. This means that even if your case is heard at court, you may not be required to attend give evidence.

We will not have the capacity to provide feedback on every single submission, however we will publish performance data on a regular basis.

You must be aware that when the police review the footage which you submit, they are duty bound to also review the manner of your driving and also the manner in which the footage was obtained. For example, if you were exceeding the speed limit in order to catch up with an offending driver and then proceeded to film them with your mobile phone whilst driving, then the police will consider also taking proceedings against you.

There are a number of disposal methods available dependant on the nature of the offence. The driver could be offered a driver education course, they could receive a fixed penalty notice, they could receive a summons to attend court, or we may decide in some cases to provide guidance. In a handful of cases we may be unable to take any further action. The footage and statement will have been reviewed by a Police Evidence Reviewer who will take all factors into consideration, including current CPS charging standards.

Ideally the time and date shown in your footage should be correct. Your footage is used to support your witness statement which must accurately state what time and date the incident occurred. You must account for any discrepancies and if this is not possible, we will be unable to progress your case. 

No. We need your statement to fully understand what you witnessed and so you can provide an account in court if necessary. Police can often proceed with an alternative course of action to prosecution, but you should be prepared that some cases will proceed to trial.  When this is required, we will be in touch and support you through the process.

The evidence which you provide to the police by way of the submission of digital media footage and a statement will be reviewed by a Police Evidence Reviewer to firstly establish if an offence has been committed and to identify the specific offence. For cases recommended for further attention, staff from Devon and Cornwall SNAP team will take positive action which will usually result in a Notice of Intended Prosecution being sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle and requiring the identity of the driver.

Each case will be considered with reference to CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) charging standards, Eligibility Criteria and Professional Practice on options to deal with road traffic offenders. Police Evidential Reviewers will direct an appropriate outcome. Options include prosecuting the case at court, offering a National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) driver educational course, offering a fixed penalty (which could include both a fine and licence endorsement) or give advice. By using Operation SNAP, the user agrees to leave the question of prosecution or other disposal in the hands of the police.

The offending driver will not be provided with your details. However, on the rare occasion that the offence which you have reported results in a court appearance, then at this stage the offending driver will become aware of your name but not your address or any other personal details.

The types of offences that Operation Snap deal with generally have a 6 month time limit for prosecution. The police also have a strict legal obligation to inform the offending driver of the offence which they have committed and usually within 14 days of that incident. Please make sure your submissions are uploaded as soon as possible. Police can usually only continue with submissions that are received within 7 days of the incident.

The footage which you submit along with your statement will be stored securely on a cloud server.

Yes. Operation Snap is designed to improve road safety and to prosecute those that place others at risk. We wish to support individuals choosing a sustainable form of transport such as cycling, and recognise they are more vulnerable road users. We will hold drivers to account for their actions where it is clear that the standard of driving falls below that of a careful and competent driver.

The police will deal with all matters such as careless riding if the identity of the rider is known. Vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders and motorcyclists are at much greater risk of serious injury and death than those in vehicles. Our priority is to protect those most vulnerable but everyone should contribute to road safety including their own.

No. Witnesses must submit their own report.

You also cannot submit footage you have found on social media to Operation SNAP.

Footage submitted to Devon and Cornwall Police Operation Snap may be used for media/training/publication purposes.