Rural Crime News 5 11 September

Transcription

1 Rural Crime News 5 11 September

2 Operation Galileo the story so far This week Superintendent and force lead for rural crime Phil Vickers talks all things Op Galileo from a developing plan that ll see hare coursing dogs found foster homes and tackling hare coursers wherever they may live. Four weeks into Lincolnshire s Operation Galileo 2018/19 season and the force has picked up where it left off from the previous season with renewed commitment and intent. Meeting with rural communities and businesses in my first few weeks as the force rural crime lead, I was heartened to hear positive feedback about how we d worked together to reduce the number of hare coursing incidents last year. This was tempered by the annual NFU Mutual report showing that the value of items stolen from rural locations had increased again drilling down into the detail, it is clear that even when the number of claims or offences reduces, it is higher value items that are being targeted.

3 Lincolnshire saw a 30% reduction in the number of hare coursing incidents last year, and while any change is likely to be a combination of factors, my view is that adopting the tactic of seizing dogs was the single greatest contributor. We know that seizing dogs used by hare coursers was particularly unpopular with offenders, it was a new tactic but not one that all police forces adopted. I believe that as a consequence there was some diversion from Lincs to other counties this isn t success in my view as it simply moves the misery to other victims and though forces work closely together, we all need to be more effective in the tactics we use. By reducing hare coursing demand on the force we are able to spend more time on other policing priorities and it is my intention that we continue to put effort into tactics which achieve that.

4 Seizing dogs (76 last year) comes at a cost to the force dogs are placed in kennels while prosecutions are pending so we are developing a dog fostering scheme, where members of the public can support us by providing a temporary home for seized animals we ll provide more details as the plan develops. The impact of seizing dogs from offenders meant that we saw an increase in the number of police pursuits, where offenders desperate to avoid losing their animals drove off from officers. Pursuits are a highrisk activity for all involved, and for the wider community, so not something that we engage in lightly. We have been able to put in place measures to prevent such incidents, and to ensure we have the right resources in place where they do occur.

5 Last month I wrote to 10 people involved in hare coursing in Lincs last year, and explained that it is my intention to make Lincolnshire a hostile environment for hare coursing. We will continue to make innovative use of the legal powers available to us for this year, that means greater use of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) legislation and a more proactive approach to dealing with offenders. I won t be waiting for hare coursers to come to our county, we will be going out to where offenders live and taking the fight through their front door. In addition to those 10 individuals, I wrote to 143 of their neighbours. I explained that a member of their community had visited Lincolnshire and committed offences that have caused misery. I explained that no one supports animal cruelty, and that there are steps they can take to help us tackle it. I provided all 143 of those households with details of the CrimeStoppers Rural Crime Reporting Line Anyone can call and provide information, anonymously if you wish. CrimeStoppers then pass the information to police, in a format that ensures the anonymity of the caller is protected to allow us to investigate. The majority of calls to CrimeStoppers aren t financially motivated, but they have a system whereby they ll pay up to 1000 cash for information that leads to a Prosecution it s an ingenious arrangement where you still don t have to identify yourself, but you can pass information in confidence.

6 We know that those rural offenders brag about their activities, on social media and to their neighbours, so the CrimeStoppers line is particularly useful system I ve had positive experience of CrimeStoppers information corroborating other information in the past and helping us to target key offenders in Lincolnshire. Some of those offenders travel significant distances to offend in Lincolnshire and most are well known to their local officers for different types of criminality in their local community. Investigative work to develop evidential packages that will be the basis for us taking the fight to them is on-going I look forward to providing updates as they are rolled out. Locally, the Lincolnshire Horse Watch Scheme has over 1200 members and I m grateful to the equestrian community for the commitment they have to keeping Lincs safe. In the near future we will be launching a scheme whereby we provide more support to riders in return for up to date reporting on key Rural issues Theft, Hare Coursing and Fly Tipping for example. I want to target recruitment in the south of the County initially, but it will be open to all Horse Watch members. Superintendent Phil Vickers Force lead for rural crime

7 What else is Lincolnshire Police dealing with?

8 Chief Constable Bill Skelly's September vlog Watch Chief Constable Bill Skelly's September vlog where he talks about Anti Social Behaviour in Lincoln, Operation Galileo (hare coursing operation), the sentencing of men who impersonated police officers and our new recruits who are about to start patrol.

9 Follow and contact us on Lincs Police Officer and Rural Crime Wildlife Rural Crime Officer and Force Dog Legislation Rural Crime officers dedicated to rural community safety and tackling hare Police, Crime & Victims Commissioner for Updates and news from the Lincs Police drone operators

10 Rural crime? Report it every time We rely on information from our rural community. Every call counts and adds to our intelligence picture. Please continue to report hare coursing or any other rural crime. We are genuinely grateful for every call. We appreciate that some people will wish to report anonymously, and that s fine too Do you find Rural Crime News useful or how could we make it better for you? We would be pleased to hear your feedback. Please simon.cotton@lincs.pnn.police.uk