9 police forces in north of England unite to foil rural crime

Nine police forces have joined together to crack down on rural crime in the north of England by targeting offenders who travel across counties to commit offences such as poaching.

A region-wide community protection notice (CPN) will give the police and courts greater powers to prosecute serial cross-border criminals who breach the conditions of the order by repeatedly targeting rural communities.

See also: Police helicopter helps rural crime teams catch hare coursers

The scheme is supported by the Crown Prosecution Service and means criminals who commit offences across the nine counties can be prosecuted jointly by the respective forces.

Before this, if someone committed an offence in one force’s patch and then travelled to a different county to carry out a second offence, both cases would have been heard in isolation.

The forces involved are: Northumbria Police, Cleveland Police, Durham Constabulary, Cumbria Constabulary, Humberside Police, North Yorkshire Police, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire Police and Lancashire Police.

Northumbria Police’s deputy chief constable, Debbie Ford, who is also the national policing lead for Rural and Wildlife Crime, said: “This is a significant and innovative move that will help us combat rural crime, not only in Northumbria, but across the north of England.

“It is one of the biggest collective crackdowns of its kind in the UK and should send a clear message to those who target our most remote communities – rural crime will not be tolerated.”

Northumbria Police said the CPNs would be available to issue in the coming weeks, as it prepares for a number of rural crime operations.

‘Huge step forward’

William Maughan, the NFU’s county chairman for North Riding and Durham, said it was encouraging to see police forces working together to tackle rural crime, “especially as our most recent rural crime survey highlighted the significant effect of crimes such as poaching and hare coursing on farmers across the region”.

“In total, 51% of respondents said they were subjected to regular farm invasions,” said Mr Maughan. “For years, criminals have taken advantage of cross-border differences between police forces, so having consistent measures in place across nine force areas is a huge step forward.”

A similar initiative in the east of England has seen incidents of hare coursing drop by almost one-third.

Borders between the forces in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent were removed when using certain tactics, which has made apprehending and prosecuting offenders easier.