A day of action targeting hare coursers was interrupted when officers switched to dealing with a suspected house burglary.
The arrests of an 18-year-old and two 15-year-olds perfectly demonstrated Lincolnshire Police’s recent move towards many more officers tackling rural crime while also being available to respond to other incidents.
I was invited to join last Wednesday’s orchestrated effort, involving officers from Spalding, Cambridgeshire and East Midlands Operational Support Service, writes news editor Nigel Chapman.
Three crews were deployed in separate areas, in addition to Sgt Dave Robinson, one of the officers who set up Operation Galileo three years ago.
I went with trained driver Pc Stuart Ping and PCSO Jack Craft in a BMW 530. Not the ideal vehicle to potentially pursue 4x4s across fields, but pretty swift.
After a briefing, we left Spalding Police Station just after 9am and by 9.20am a suspicious vehicle had already been pulled.
It was literally the first one we passed as we got close to our first target destination. It raised suspicion because of its type – a 53-plate Mitsubishi Shogun Sport – and reasonably slow speed, “trawling” it might be said.
Within seconds we were travelling in the opposite direction, bearing down on the Shogun, which had picked up a bit of pace. It soon slowed and indicated to be pulling over.
All four men were wearing outdoor clothing and wellies and were accompanied by three lurchers in rather cooped conditions in the rear.
Only the driver was willing to give his details, admitting that he had previous form for hare coursing, although a check proved there was no police record of this. He said the group from the Coventry/Leicester area were en route to visit a friend in Holbeach.
With no offence committed, the group were allowed to go on their way.
They were pulled over again a couple of miles away by Lincolnshire Police Wildlife Officer Nick Willey, who didn’t recognise any of the men as known offenders, and they again continued on their journey.
The radio crackled into life. A call came through of hare coursing activity and threatening behaviour at Deeping St James.
Time to give the BMW a tickle on blues and twos, quickly reaching 90mph along Six House Bank between West Pinchbeck and Pode Hole.
However, undulating South Drove slowed progress considerably and by the time we reached Spalding Common, word came through that the offenders were heading away from us. With several miles still to go to even reach the caller, our participation was halted.
Using PCSO Craft’s good local knowledge of renowned hare coursing hotspots, we spent the rest of the morning patrolling areas around Hop Pole, Tongue End and Moulton Chapel, where a report of a wanted Land Rover Discovery had been issued.
Then just after 1pm came news of the suspected burglary in process at Ladywood Road in Spalding.
We were there within ten minutes and PCSO Craft’s area experience and intuition took us to Chiltern Drive play area where the three arrests were made. The males were bailed until February 23.
The day’s Operation Galileo results:
- A man from Nottinghamshire reported for summons for trespassing in pursuit of game in Deeping St James
- A teenager reported for summons for hare coursing at Sutton St James. At the same incident a man from Surrey given a formal direction to leave Lincolnshire
- A man suspected of being involved in hare coursing was given a fixed penalty notice for no MOT and given a formal direction to leave Lincolnshire
- Four men from Derbyshire given a formal direction to leave Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire
Ch Insp Jim Tyner, the force lead for rural crime, said: “Today was a good example of joint working to tackle a problem that cuts across many rural communities.”
