The New Vauxhall Astra On Display At The Home Office Scientific Development Branch Exhibition

The recent HOSDB 2010 exhibition organised by the Home Office Scientific Development Branch saw Vauxhall proudly display the new generation Vauxhall Astra police vehicle on a stand hosted by the Association of Chief Police Officers Intelligent Transportations Systems Working Group (ACPO ITS).

Vauxhall were invited onto the ACPO stand not only thanks to their long history with the association but also in recognition of the ongoing work carried out by the Special Vehicles Operation team based at Millbrook in Bedfordshire. Vauxhall Special Vehicles are currently working with a number of partners on behalf of ACPO, to study the future of equipment installation in police vehicles. In particular they are working with the Metropolitan Police Services Team lead by Nigel Jakubowski, Director Metropolitan Transport Services and the ACPO ITS team headed up by Chief Superintendent Jim Hammond in the development of the One Box Single Vehicle Architecture.

The new Vauxhall Astra was displayed for the first time in full Metropolitan Police livery to visitors at the invitation only event, which this year was held in Farnborough, Hampshire. The HOSDB Exhibition brings together senior police officers, government and Home Office officials from the UK as well as law enforcement and public security representatives from across the globe to view the very latest in high tech equipment.

A limited number of stands at the exhibition were selected as being of special interest to a group of VIPs and ministers which included Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Security and Counter-terrorism, Lord West who opened the show Dick Ellam, Manager Vehicle Conversions for Vauxhall said: "It was a great honour to be asked to exhibit the new generation Astra at such an influential show, particularly with an organisation as well regarded as ACPO. We were delighted to be able to show our British built Astra to so many of the leaders in today's law enforcement industry."

The HOSDB Exhibition is the UK's only secure event for displaying the latest security equipment for law enforcement and public security. It focuses on the four key Home Office business areas: Crime and Policing, Security and Counter Terrorism, Identity Management and Border Security. The 2009 show saw visitors from 44 countries and over 3,000 security products as diverse as vehicles, microchips and body armour.