On Wednesday evening officers from Doncaster East NPT were out patrolling along the borders of Humberside, Nottinghamshire and North Yorkshire after an increase in cross-border offences. The Kia Sportage below reacted to our presence (probably due to it displaying cloned plates) and immediately took off at speed, following a pursuit the driver decided to go off road and park in the middle of a field. One of the occupants was detained nearby, enquiries are on-going to identify the other offenders. 

Throughout the night we dedicated our patrols to the outlining communities where we know a number of wildlife and rural crime type offences are being committed. Numerous people were spoken to and searched in relation to poaching and positive action taken as and where it could. These patrols continued until the early hours.

Poaching often takes place in isolated rural areas often during the early hours of the morning – local residents are often woken by the noise of off-road vehicles targeting fields usually causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. This can be very intimidating and scary for these residents. Deer, hares, badgers, foxes and rabbits are often killed inhumanely. Last night we intercepted two lots of poachers, these were local residents.

Poaching will not be tolerated in South Yorkshire. Over the past six months we have worked closely with local farmers and crime prevention groups to tackle these types of crime. We believe that the word is getting around and as such our robust policing approach is having a positive impact on the amount of visitors we have to this area for these type of offences.