Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime.

Considered

The report of the Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime on how rural and wildlife crime is being tackled.

As part of the introduction to this report, the Deputy Mayor highlighted the recognised good practice led through the area Rural Task Force (RTF), including the fact that poaching is down 61% in the last three years as a result of their work.

Panel members highlighted that they would benefit from more specific data being included within the report, particularly in terms of arrests and convictions. The Deputy Mayor offered to provide a further briefing on the RTF, although it was noted that Panel members will be receiving an informal briefing on this and other matters shortly.

The Deputy Mayor was asked about the illegal dumping of rubbish on agricultural land and whether she is satisfied that there are joined-up discussions taking place on this between councils, the police and Environment Agency.  The Deputy Mayor highlighted that the issue was raised recently at the National Rural Crime Network (NRCN) and that she would be happy to convene a meeting on this if necessary to progress things among agencies.  This was welcomed by the Panel.

The Panel asked whether the Deputy Mayor is satisfied that there are sufficient resources within the RTF to tackle rural crime effectively.  In response, the Panel’s attention was drawn to the fact that crimes are going down although resources will continue to be monitored.  The additional neighbourhood policing resources planned will help to support rural communities. 

A Member asked about hunting with hounds in relation to the police’s prioritisation of enforcement of the current legislation and also the service’s preparedness for a potential extension to the legislation to help protect against the possibility of trail hunting being used as a smokescreen.  The Deputy Mayor agreed to provide further data to help the Panel to understand NYP’s performance, including whether benchmarking is undertaken against other forces. 

The Deputy Mayor was asked about the government announcement of £800,000 to tackle rural and wildlife crime, namely how much of this will come to North Yorkshire and whether it will be repeated.  The Deputy Mayor felt that the funding was focussed around cross-border crime impacting rural communities and supporting the wider NRCN.  It is unlikely to involve a bidding process but it was agreed that this would be clarified.  It was felt unlikely to be a repeated source of funding.

Panel highlighted the poor reputation of North Yorkshire in relation to raptor persecution and that engagement with the RTF previously had highlighted the difficulties in securing prosecutions.  This appeared to have centred around CPS concerns on the potential costs of bringing a prosecution, the fact that estates involved were likely to employ Queen’s Counsel (at that time) and that the cost of bringing the prosecution would be too high.  The Deputy Mayor agreed to pursue further conversations on this with the CPS.  Further to a request it was also agreed that the Deputy Mayor would provide Panel with data on the number of Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) that have been issued for wildlife crimes in the last two years.   

A Panel member raised concern regarding a seeming lack of police powers in legislation to be able to seize firearms and shotguns to prevent crime.  A number of related queries were put, namely how many crimes are committed with firearms, how many instances of threats have there been with firearms, how does this affect domestic violence (for example where a firearm is used as a threat) and how many seizures have there been of firearms/shotguns.  The Deputy Mayor welcomed the conversation in the context of domestic abuse in rural areas and agreed to look at the data for the next meeting. 

It was agreed that the Panel will revisit this item on its work programme next year.  It was also agreed that the Panel could contact the RTF again to arrange for contextual briefing/visits going forward.

Resolved

That the Panel:

(a)   Will receive further data regarding NYP’s performance on the enforcement of legislation for hunting with hounds;

(b)   Will receive clarification regarding the government funding to tackle rural and wildlife crime;

(c)   Will receive a further update from the Deputy Mayor following conversations with the CPS on securing prosecutions for wildlife crime (especially raptor persecutions);

(d)   Will receive data on the number of CBOs issued as a sanction for wildlife crime in the last two years; and

(e)   Will receive an update for the next meeting in relation to a number of queries on the link between the prevalence of firearms and domestic violence.