| 2018-07-30 |    |
NSA Raises Concerns Around Dog Worrying with Police
The National Sheep Association (NSA) raised the profile of sheep worrying by dogs, a crime affecting many flock keepers throughout the UK, by attending the National Police Chief Council (NPCC) Rural Crime Summit on Wednesday 25th July.
The summit, which saw the NPCC launch its new rural affairs strategy, provided opportunity for NSA to engage with police officers from a large number of UK police forces to increase understanding of sheep worrying by dogs and strengthen relationships. This is part of ongoing NSA work to ensure more police forces treat sheep worrying as the serious rural crime that it is, hopefully bringing more prosecutions in the future to act as a deterrent.
NSA Communications Officer Eleanor Phipps says:
“The event was
an excellent opportunity for NSA to speak directly to the police
constables, sergeants and inspectors who are on the frontline of
tackling rural crime. Most of these officers are specifically dedicated
to rural affairs in their respective police forces and are keen
to work with NSA to find ways to tackle this problem. A large concern
for them was that often sheep
worrying cases get passed to general
officers, as there are more of these than there are rural crime
officers, and so they stressed to us the importance of our members
asking for a rural crime officer when reporting dog worrying incidents
to the police. These officers are specifically trained in this
area so are best placed to deal with and prosecute on rural crimes.”
NSA is part of the Livestock Offences Rural Affairs Delivery Group, made up of stakeholders and experts to advise NPCC on best practice for tackling specific crimes, and therefore supports the new rural affairs strategy. As well as work by the Livestock Offences Group on sheep worrying by dogs, it sets out a three-year forward plan for tackling rural crimes around farm machinery, plant and vehicle theft, fuel theft, equine crime, fly tipping and poaching.
NSA is working with SheepWatch UK as well as the Livestock Offences Group to support the NPCC’s proposed amendments to the Dangerous Dogs Act that will give police the power to tackle sheep worrying offences more effectively. However, NSA is clear these changes will only happen if the rural community ensures its reports every offence to the police, no matter how small.
Miss Phipps continues:
“Many of the officers we spoke to said they were concerned a large number
of crimes are not reported, some because of distrust of the police, and some
because people did not want to bother them over a small offence. With sheep
worrying by dogs, we will only see legislative changes made if the official
statistics more accurately portray the magnitude of the problem; under-reporting
allows it to be brushed under the carpet as not serious enough to warrant
action. Many other rural crimes relate to bigger organised crime groups and
all reports, however minor the incident, help to build a bigger picture. The
police want to get better at addressing rural crime but can only do so if
we work with them and report everything.”
