Police Scotland – Wildlife Crime

SCD / Sgt Andrew Mavin / 27012016 / v1

Police Service of Scotland

• Police Scotland was formerly established on 1 April 2013 and is

responsible for policing across the length and breadth of

Scotland, some 28,168 square miles.

• This is the largest geographic area of any UK force.

• Police Scotland is the second largest force in the UK after the

Metropolitan Police Service. There are approximately 17,300

officers and 5,600 staff.

• Scottish Natural Heritage reported back in 2008, the natural

environment has an economic value of over £17 billion to the

Scottish economy and employs one in seven of all full time

workers.

Wildlife Crime

‘Wildlife crime encompasses any act or omission that is made illegal in Scotland under legislation with regard to certain birds, animals and plants including their habitats, both on land and at sea, and includes:

Persecution of wildlife, cruelty against wildlife and interference with a wildlife habitat, including the release of non-native species

Poaching

Commercial activity in internationally protected species originating, committed or partly committed within Scotland’.

• ‘Wildlife Crime’ covers a huge spectrum of criminal activity and

comprises a varied and complex range of activities that can occur

in both remote countryside and urban areas. It poses significant

harms to the species targeted by the criminals, as well as the

communities who rely on wildlife for employment and tourism.

• It is complex to investigate and can involve researching illegal

trading on the internet, the use of advanced DNA techniques and

painstaking searches of land and property.

• Criminality which is perpetrated against the wildlife and natural

environment of Scotland consistently attracts an extremely high

level of interest and concern from community and political

perspectives.

Wildlife Crime Strategic Proposal

• It was recognised early on that, although there were co-ordinators within each

Force, there was an opportunity to improve national co-ordination in terms of

policy and strategic partnerships.

• Local policing is key to the structure of Police Scotland and the National Police

Reform Team was conscious of this when drawing together the strategic

proposal for Wildlife Crime.

• The Wildlife Crime Strategic Proposal defined a role of Wildlife Crime Liaison

Officer within each of the 14 territorial Divisions.

• 8 Coordination roles across the legacy Scottish forces have grown in number to

14 Divisional Wildlife Crime Liaison Officer posts, meaning that the skill base has

in fact be enhanced across Police Scotland. These posts act as a conduit

between local policing and national coordination, and also between policing and

local partners.

Portfolio Lead –

DCS Sean Scott

Scottish Wildlife Crime Coordinator

Sgt Andrew Mavin

J Div WCLO -

PC Jamie Hood

K Div WCLO -

DC Kay Tennant

N Div WCLO -

PC Dan

Sutherland

P Div WCLO -

PC Lindsay Kerr

V Div WCLO -

CI David

McCallum

U Div WCLO -

PC Graeme

Gordon

L Div WCLO -

PC Peter Sinclair

B Div WCLO -

PC Mike Whyte

Q Div WCLO -

PC Doug Cowan

G Div WCLO -

PC Craig

Borthwick

D Div WCLO -

PC Blair Wilkie

E Div WCLO -

PC Sam Campbell

C Div WCLO -

PC Malky O’May

A Div WCLO -

PC Seb Cook

* Full Time Officers in bold

• The current framework has resulted in national consistency,together with an increase in operational competency andenhanced strategic partnerships with both the National WildlifeCrime Unit and PAW Scotland.

• The 14 Wildlife Crime Liaison Officers ensure that locally PoliceScotland has the right partnerships in place and that activity isrelevant to the needs of the community. They are supported by anumber of part time Wildlife Crime Officers who undertake manylocal operational enquiries in addition to their core role.

• More recently a Rural Crime Governance Group has beenestablished in each Division chaired by either a Supt or DetSupt. Wildlife Crime has a role to play in this and as a result theprofile of wildlife crime has been raised in each Division.

WCLO / WCO do not generally deal with:

• Stray dogs (local authority)

• Dangerous Dogs

• Licensing of dangerous wild animals (local authority)

• Injured domestic birds or animals (SSPCA)

• Young birds which have fallen from nests (SSPCA)

Partnership for Action Against Wildlife

Crime (PAW) Scotland

• The UK Partnership for action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) was

established to unify efforts to combat wildlife crime in the UK with the

mission statement ‘Working in partnership to reduce wildlife crime by

raising awareness and promoting effective enforcement’.

• PAW Scotland is a partnership organisation chaired by the Minister for

Environment and Climate Change, Paul Wheelhouse, MSP. Partners

from conservation organisations, land managers and law enforcement,

as well as Government agencies.

• PAW Scotland operates a high level Executive Group and a wider

Plenary Group both chaired by the Minister. The Plenary is open to all

members of the Partnership. Between them the Executive and Plenary

groups meet around 4 times per year.

The main work of PAW Scotland is delivered through a number of sub groups (PSoS is represented on all of these groups):

• Legislation, Regulation & Guidance

• Training & Awareness

• Funding

• Media

• Science

• Poaching and Coursing

• Raptor crime

• Fresh Water Pearl Mussels

• Wildlife Crime Penalties Review

www.PAW.Scotland.gov.uk

Wildlife Crime Campaign 2015

Campaign Aim

•To encourage the general public to be vigilant about wildlife crime

and report any suspicious activity.

Objectives

• to highlight what Police Scotland is doing to tackle Wildlife Crime

• to educate the general public about Wildlife Crime

• to encourage the public to report Wildlife Crime

• to promote Police Scotland’s commitment to tackle Wildlife Crime

• to promote the Wildlife Crime Officer Introduction Course starting

on 13 March

Print Advertising

The campaign creative encouraged the

audience to help Police Scotland tackle wildlife

crime by being vigilant and reporting any

suspicious activity.

“Let’s put an end to Wildlife

Crime.

Keep your eyes open;

report any suspicious activity.”

Outdoor Advertising

• A part of the budget was spent on getting the message out to the relevant

audience with the use of park stencils. The creative showcased above was

developed in line with the main campaign creative encouraging the public to be

vigilant and report any suspicious activity helping to tackle wildlife crime.

• 2 parks in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen (Total 72 stencils)

Social Media

• Police Scotland’s national social media activity ran as part of the Wildlife

Crime campaign from Monday 23rd March to Friday 17th April.

• Social media was successfully used to deliver wildlife crime key messages

to a large audience of over 1.2 million.

• Across Facebook, Twitter and Youtube wildlife crime key messages were

regularly posted throughout the campaign period. Content included videos,

photos, case studies and infographics to bring the messages to life and

increase audience engagement.

• The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) has the remit for wildlife crime in the UK, and reports to a High Level Group that includes Chief Constables, representatives from the government and senior management from HMRC etcand are funded centrally.

• The NWCU is a police led department, and the objective of the unit is always to assist in the prevention and detection of crime.

• It does this by obtaining and disseminating information from a wide range of organisations and by assisting police forces in wildlife crime investigation.

• It produces analysis which highlights local or national threats.

• The NWCU are the conduit between all agencies that have an interest in dealing with wildlife crime e.g. RSPB / TRAFFIC etc, have a legal obligation to deal with wildlife crime e.g. Police / HMRC / COPFS, hold information relating to wildlife crime e.g. DEFRA or have resources available to deal with any identified criminality.

http://www.nwcu.police.uk/

BADGER PERSECUTION

RAPTOR PERSECUTIONFRESH WATER MUSSELS POACHING

BAT PERSECUTION ENDANGERED SPECIES (CITES)

Badgers

• Every badger and every sett is protected by law (Protection of Badgers Act 1992)

• Illegal snaring, poisoning and particularly the activities of badger baiters

• Badger baiting is cruel to the dogs and the badgers

• Often highly organised and large sums of money placed on bets

Hare Coursing

• Hare coursing is covered by Section 1 Protection of Wild

Mammals (S) Act 2002 and 11G Wildlife and Countryside Act

1981

• Any attempt to course is also an offence

• Traditional Sport of the Travelling Community

• Often cross boundary

• Often for gambling purposes

• Formerly limited to landowners, gentleman farmers and the nobility,

hare coursing grew more popular with a wider audience in Victorian

times.

• As many as 150 hare coursing clubs in the UK in the 19th century

• A formal rule book, with around 80,000 regularly following the sport.

• By the turn of the twentieth century hare coursing was considered a

mainly working class activity and informal hare coursing was viewed

negatively, and still is, by landowners.

• Hare coursing was made illegal in Scotland in 2002

Many people expect that those

arriving to carry out hare

coursing will arrive in a van

with the dogs running around

in the rear.

A trawl of recent intelligence would suggest otherwise with the

following being used:

AudiA4, Ford Transit (Rental), Vauxhall Astra, Citroen C5, Ford

Fiesta, Rover 25, Peugeot 406, Toyota Hi-Lux, Mitsubishi Pajero,

Ford Focus, Renault Kangoo, Honda Civic, Land Rover Discovery

Possibly not!

Dogs used……….

Hare coursing peaks in the time period immediately following

a field being combined, when the surface of the field is dry

and firm and hare can be seen more readily.

Those involved may park in plain sight or conceal their

vehicle behind hedgerows. The occupants may not enter the

field but direct activity from the roadside. However, in most

cases they will walk the field in a loose line with the dogs on

slip leads or running free. Recent studies suggest that the

hare will make good its escape on 80% of occasions and the

chase will normally last 30-40 seconds although longer

pursuits are common. The speed of the hare is 24-26mph.

(1) A person who deliberately hunts a wild mammal with a

dog commits an offence.

(2) It is an offence for an owner or occupier of land

knowingly to permit another person to enter or use it to

commit an offence under subsection 1

(3) It is an offence for an owner of, or person having

responsibility for, a dog knowingly to permit another person

to use it to commit an offence under subsection (1).

(Section 1)

Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002

When you approach people involved in hare coursing they will state that

they are only looking for rabbits. That at one time was an excuse but the

prey species is now irrelevant.

Poaching

• Offences relating to the illegal taking or killing of game are complex.

• The Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 is the main legislation for deer crime.

• Methods of killing are numerous but include shooting with firearms and

other projectile weapons, snaring and coursing with dogs

• Offences may be punished by imprisonment and therefore detention or

arrest are options.

A common sight- but one the Police really need to know about.

Methods of taking range from shooting from moving vehicles,

coursing with dogs and shooting with crossbows.

The method of taking is often very crude with

• poor use of firearms,

• failure to ensure the animal has been killed,

• the carcase is left and no effort is made to butcher it,

• shooting takes place at night in wooded areas where SNH licenced

shooting is taking place,

• meat when taken is sold door-to-door

• deer taken out of season with no regard to dependent young

• very young deer being taken

Other welfare concerns are that the dogs used are being trained

on domestic cats and on sheep.

Who is responsible?

Practically anyone but……

Many offenders originate from former heavy industry type

communities where activities such as deer poaching are thought of

as being traditional. Dog fighting and badger baiting are seen in a

similar way.

It is also common among other

communities where the ‘skills’ are

passed down from older

generations.

Fish Poaching

• Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (S) Act 2003

• Salmon includes Sea Trout

• Freshwater fish means any fish living in freshwater other than

Salmon

• Other than a rod or line or a net and coble

• Salmon or Sea Trout without legal right or permission

• 2 or more people acting together classed as gang poaching

Raptor Persecution

• Bird of Prey crime can include shooting, trapping and poisoning, or the intentional or reckless disturbance or interference at their nest site

• Particularly Golden Eagle, Goshawk, Hen Harrier, Peregrine, Red Kite, Buzzard and White-tailed Eagle

Legislation

• Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

– Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.

– Nature and Habitat Regulations 1984.

• Main offences.

– Section 1(1) WCA 1981 – take, kill or injure a wild bird.

– Section 15A WCA 1981 – possession of a banned pesticide.

– Section 18A WCA 1981 – landowner can be held responsible

for the action of an employee.

• Enforcement

– Section 19 WCA 1981 – powers of entry/ stop/search

What is raptor persecution?

Bats

• All species of British bats and their roosts are protected (European Protected Species (EPS) and included in Sch 2 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats etc) Regulations 1994).

• Roof repairs

• Structural alterations

• Tree felling

• Power of arrest or detention

CITES

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

• Regulates the legal trade in species of birds, animals and plants whose

wild populations are threatened.

• Control of Trade in Endangered Species (enforcement) Regs (COTES)

• Op Kukak – POCA estimates £260k assets and similar in value of birds

• Rhino Horn - £65K / kilo

Freshwater Pearl Mussels

• Scotland has one of the largest populations of FWPM in the world.

• An artificially propagated pearl retails for about 30 pence; a Scottish

freshwater pearl will sell for nearer £30.

• Jewellers require a licence from Government to undertake any

commercial activity

• To acquire such a licence, they have to prove the pearl was taken

before 1991

High Media Profile