Background
Tackling poaching is one of the UK’s wildlife crime priorities. It blights the countryside and affects farmers, landowners and others living and working there. Poaching increases across England and Wales during late autumn following the harvest and as the hours of darkness increase, but is a year round activity for those with a criminal intent.
On 1st October 2013, Project TRESPASS, a new initiative providing a coordinated response to poaching was launched by the England and Wales Poaching Priority Delivery Group (PPDG)
The initiative has seen public meetings held across the country involving partners agencies involved with the group, local Police and members of public living and working in the countryside. Magazine articles have been written to raise understanding and encourage the reporting of poaching incidents and Police forces have taken direct action running anti-poaching operations gathering intelligence and targeting offenders.
The NWCU has undertaken a review of intelligence, numbers and types of convictions and other information received following the first six months of the project. The results are staggering. Intelligence collated from across England and Wales by the NWCU increased from 44% to 55% for the total amount for wildlife crime received.
The hope was always that increased intelligence would result in an increase in the numbers of enforcement actions. Convictions increased from 10 over the period October 2013-March 2013 to 13 for the same period this year. A further 47 actions are still ongoing by Police forces and there are also 21 further pending court cases involving poaching cases.
Glynn Evans, BASC head of Game and Deer management and the plan owner for poaching priority in England (E&W) said, “Working together all the members of the delivery group, the NWCU and a large number of Police forces have put in considerable effort to tackle poaching. Project Trespass has been well received and we will continue to build upon its success to tackle poaching. Those who poach are often involved in other crimes and they have little or no regard for the animals they target or those affected by their criminal activities”.
Detective Inspector Nevin Hunter, Head of Unit at the NWCU said: “Many Police forces supported by Police and Crime Commissioners have embraced the Project using it as a cornerstone in the development of Rural Crime Strategies. Partners have been superb in publicising the Project through meetings with members and in relevant magazines. This has led to increased reporting of intelligence by landowners, land managers, gamekeepers, fisheries enforcement officers and many others living and working in our rural areas. The success achieved so far is only the start and I share Glynns view that we must build upon the momentum generated to rid the countryside of the scourge of poaching’.
The PPDG is comprised of police representatives, the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), the National Gamekeepers Organisation (NGO), the Food Standards Agency, the Deer Initiative, the Angling Trust, the Environment Agency (EA), the National Farmers Union (NFU), Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and the Countryside Alliance (CA).
It works with and supports the Partnership for Action against Wildlife crime (PAW), an umbrella body comprising all governmental and non-governmental organisations committed to tackling all aspects of wildlife crime across the UK.
The PPDG reports to the UK Tasking and Coordinating Group, a multi-agency group chaired by a Chief Police Officer that focuses strategic and operational support to tackle threat of criminality to UK wildlife.
PROJECT TRESPASS aims to coordinate action across England and Wales through –
• Prevention – offering best advice to farmers, landowners, gamekeepers, shooting and land management organisations regarding measures to put in place to prevent poaching and disruption mechanisms
• Intelligence – to allow the police to target offenders
• Enforcement – with good intelligence the police can target poachers through the various rural and poaching based operations run throughout England and Wales
• Reassurance – by working together and by publicising resulting actions such as activity, arrests, seizures and convictions.
Examples of good practice
Examples of some of the achievements from across England and Wales include:
Somerset/Devon – Exmoor Rural Crime Forum, November 2013
Police from two Police forces have joined up with the Exmoor National Park, The National Trust, the Environment Agency, The Crown Estate, River Exe Tributaries Association, Forestry Commission and the NWCU.
In November 2013 a series of meeting were held on West Exmoor involving Police and local landowners to highlight the issues of poaching and what the Project aimed to do. Attendees were asked to report incidents of suspected poaching. Within a day a man was arrested on suspicion of poaching by a farmer who had attended the meeting and reported the incident to the Police
Contact: Sgt Andy Whysall, Avon and Somerset Police
andy.whysall@avonandsomerset.pnn.police.uk
Sgt Dave Knight, Devon and Cornwall Police
david.knight@devonandcornwall.pnn.policeuk
Lincolnshire – Night time operations, October 2013 – January 2014
The force has completed three operations under the Project TRESPASS banner. These involved two joint night time ops with Humberside Police resulting in 2 vehicles seized regarding targets from South Yorkshire, one night time operation which involved close liaison with West Yorkshire Police regarding deer poachers. The operations were staffed by the force Operation Galileo rural crime team assisted by District staff.
Student Officers and PCSO’s have been trained this has included a section on Project Trespass and also have included it in Power Point presentations which have been shared with local organisations such as the NFU/DEER GROUPS
Contact: PC Nick Willey, Lincolnshire Police,
nick.willey@lincs.pnn.police.uk
Thames Valley – Wildlife crime officer leads deer poaching operation as part of the national Project Trespass, November 2013
The Police Wildlife Crime Officer for Aylesbury, PC Dean Kingham, led a deer poaching operation using low light equipment during the winter months of 2013/2014.
The operation we used 4×4 vehicles to access areas of land that had been seen as a high risk of poaching activity. Neighbourhoods Police Teams supplied officers for the operation ensuring enough on the ground. Contact was made to local farmers, gamekeepers and land managers and they were given direct contact details for local Police Officers to ensure they had ‘hot’ information straight away to act upon rather than third hand through a control room.
Force roamers including roads policing and local armed response units were aware of what was planned in case there was any form of pursuit or issue with making firearms safe at the roadside. In addition the force helicopter was also made aware of the areas covered by the operation.
Contact: PC Dean Kingham, Thames Valley Police (Aylesbury)
dean.kingham@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
North Yorkshire – Northallerton Magistrates Court, January 2014
John FRANCIS was convicted for daytime trespass in pursuit of game. The incident took place on 3rd November 2013 when Police Officers were out on a Countrywatch operation and one of the watch members came across FRANCIS and another male running dogs in a field after a hare. Following a roadside interview FRANCIS was reported and later convicted.
Contact: PC Gareth Jones
gareth.jones1237@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk
West Midlands – Solihull Farmwatch reinvigorated, January 2014
Police have reinvigorated their local Farmwatch linked to Project TRESPASS. It now has over 130 members. Proactive patrolling as a result of increased reporting of lamping has seen such cases reduce and fish poaching on a problem of the River Blythe has virtually disappeared altogether due to the targeted approach taken.
Contact: PC Andrew Timmins
a.timmins@west-midlands.pnn.police.uk
The Angling Trust, March 2014
The Angling Trust and Environment Agency are currently leading on the Fisheries Enforcement Campaign. This has a clear strategy: to educate police officers regarding the criminal offences involved and their responsibilities, encourage and facilitate a partnership approach, and educate anglers as to the law involved and how the intelligence-led system works. During the coarse close season (15 March – 15 June 2014) the Angling Trust’s Voluntary Bailiff Service is working closely with Agency officers and all police forces in SE England on Operation CLAMP DOWN 2. This targets illegal angling and criminal activity on rivers, and directly supports both Project TRESPASS and Rural Crime Strategies. During last year’s initial operation, Volunteer Bailiffs discovered two Magnum handguns and an Uzi sub-machine-gun concealed in the Thames near Reading – emphasising that potentially serious criminal activity occurs in remote areas. The VBS is trained by the Trust, Agency, NWCU and Cefas, in intelligence gathering and reporting, and is, therefore, a valuable resource for rural policing. Moreover, the Angling Trust’s ‘Building Bridges’ project engages with Eastern European migrant anglers, encouraging education and integration, which could also be a
useful police resource’.
Contact: Dilip Sarkar, Angling Trust
dilip.sarkar@anglingtrust.net
Ends.
