Four held in crackdown by police on rural crime

FOUR PEOPLE were arrested and four vehicles seized by police in North Yorkshire during what officers said was the biggest rural crime operation in the country.

Police officers and PCSOs from the North Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria forces worked alongside volunteer watch teams for Operation Checkpoint.

In North Yorkshire, four vehicles were seized by police, four suspects were arrested, and a number of people found in suspicious circumstances were forced to leave England’s largest county after being issued with legal orders.

Officers in North Yorkshire were supported by more than 50 Mobile Rural Watch volunteers. Operation Checkpoint first ran in January 2014 and is described as the largest operation of its kind in the country.

The forces involved share intelligence and information and patrol across force boundaries to target criminals.

During Checkpoint deployments – the latest running from Tuesday evening into the early hours of yesterday – police use Automatic Number Plate Recognition ( ANPR) technology to locate vehicles suspected of being connected to crime, and target vehicles seen in suspicious circumstances.

A total of 26 vehicles were stopped and checked in North Craven, Upper Wharfedale, Richmond, Richmondshire, Bedale, Easingwold and Thirsk.

During one incident, at 1.20am, at Slingsby, near Malton, three suspected poachers in a Ford Ranger were stopped and checked. They were issued with a Dispersal Order, requiring them to leave North Yorkshire.

Inspector Matthew Hagen, of North Yorkshire Police’s Rural Taskforce, said: “Once again, our high- visibility presence and patrols as part of Operation Checkpoint have sent a strong message to criminals who use road networks to who target rural areas.