A NEW police scheme aimed at tackling rural and wildlife crime has launched in Barnsley - and cops were out and about speaking with farmer and local community groups about their concerns.
Operation Hawthorne specially focuses on engaging with communities in the more rural areas across the region, including land owners and farmers, and tackling crimes which affect them most including the use of off-road vehicles, theft of agricultural equipment, livestock and plants, illegal hunting and poaching, and fly-tipping.
The operation took place across Barnsley and was well-received by partners and those who the police spoke to.
Chief Inspector Peter Spratt, force lead for rural and wildlife crime, said: “Through our quarterly rural engagement meetings, which we hold in all four of our districts, we know that the communities in our more rural areas are disproportionally affected by crimes such as nuisance off-road vehicles, agricultural theft and the killing of livestock.
“We have recently invested in training additional wildlife crime officers, doubling our capacity in the force specific to this area of crime.
“Officers in our Motorcycle and Rural Crime Team (MARCT) have also trained in heritage crime, so they can offer special expertise to our many sites across the county.
“Operation Hawthorne also focuses on working in partnership, to effectively engage with those who are directly affected by these crime types.”
The day of action saw support from South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), joining forces from Barnsley Council, The Environmental Agency, a local cycling and pony riding groups, and also local farmers.
Officers from MARCT covered in total 87 miles throughout the day, being visible on the force’s own off-road bikes, in key hotspot areas which unfortunately see more examples of rural crimes.
During which, they visited ten local farms, encouraging reporting of any suspicious and illegal activity they may witness of be victims of.
Fisheries in the Wombwell area, which have experienced illegal poaching and antisocial behaviour from quad bikes, were also visited by officers, and colleagues from the Environmental Agency conducted licence checks at several fishing lakes, checking for people who may have been fishing illegally.
Four people were found to have no licence to fish and were handed a £350 fine.
Chf Supt Spratt added: “The main purpose of these operations will be to engage with our rural communities and land owners, exploring crime prevention opportunities and showing them how to report and collect evidence so we can pursue offenders and secure convictions.
“Through bringing key partners together, we intend to have the maximum impact and explore all enforcement opportunities for anyone identified committing offences that disproportionately affect our rural communities.
“We intend to run similar operation across all areas of South Yorkshire moving forward.
“We do rely on intelligence submitted by you, our communities, to tackle this type of crime and antisocial behaviour.
“If you have information or intelligence about those responsible for the use of nuisance motorcycles, quads and off-road vehicles, please do let your local Neighbourhood Policing Teams or officers from MARCT know about it.”
