and targeting offenders, building contacts in the local community, resolving problems by working with local organisations and individuals, and being visible and accessible. Criminal Investigation Departments detect serious crime Customer Service Desks ensure incidents are dealt with promptly and the public get a better service Public Protection Units deal with domestic abuse, stalking and harassment, honour-based violence, elder abuse and child protection. Intelligence Units and Pro-active Policing Units target persistent criminals Partnership Development Units Custody Investigation Teams, consist of a combination of interviewing police officers and civilian staff members who interview persons detained in the custody suite suspected of committing an offence. Headquarters-based teams The following centralised teams operate from force headquarters: Central Roads Policing Unit Centralised Crime Recording Bureau Contingency Planning/Events Coordinators Force Major Investigation Team Specialised Support Units Road policing The Cheshire road system is made up of of highway. The constabulary is responsible for policing one of the longest stretches of motorway in Britain. The force patrols of the M6, M62, M53 and M56 motorways, which has 23 interchanges and four service areas. The M6 motorway across the Thelwall Viaduct carries 140,000 vehicles every 24 hours. Delays and incidents on the motorway can have a severe impact on the economic life of the entire North West Region. Air operations unit The force no longer has an air operations unit. Since 2012 aviation support has been provided by the National Police Air Service. Historically, in December 2001, Cheshire Police began operating a Britten-Norman Islander fixed-wing aircraft. It was particularly suited to police aviation as it was able to carry a wide range of equipment and stay airborne for long periods of time. This equipment allowed it to operate during the day or night, in most weather conditions. On 27 February 2009, the Constabulary confirmed that the Home Office had agreed to jointly fund the purchase of a new £1million Eurocopter EC135 aircraft, to be operational 24 hours a day. The fixed-wing aircraft was retired when the new helicopter came into operation. The aircraft was operated by a team of civilian pilots, four police observers and one sergeant ensure it was available all year. The aircraft was used to conduct a wide range of policing work providing emergency responses to incidents involving threat to life, commission of crime and searching for missing persons. It also conducted deployments for non-crime searches, scene management at incidents and video evidence gathering. On