Beginning in 2003 the programme has followed the fourteen members of the Thames Valley Police's roads policing proactive unit (road crime unit - known within the force as "Tango Vulture" - taken from their TV callsign prefix and the joke that they swoop to steal arrests from other officers) while they carried out their duties. Road Wars is unlike other previous police programmes on Sky in that it followed the work of officers rather than simply playing police video clips. The Thames Valley Police unit operates high-specification, unmarked 3.0L V6 Vauxhall Omegas (now being replaced by unmarked 2.8L Turbo V6 Police Special Vauxhall Vectras) and is tasked with taking a proactive role in fighting crime especially targeted towards street robbers and burglars, but also undertaking general traffic policing (the officers are drawn from standard Roads Policing teams). The footage from this team is combined with video footage from police forces around the world (though largely UK and United States forces). The programme has documented the changing tactics of criminals, perhaps most importantly their increasing violence and recklessness, and the response of the UK police forces. The programme has the approval of the Association of Chief Police Officers