Operation CLAMP DOWN 3

[FishingMagic]

This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: Operation CLAMP DOWN 3

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Really good to see is this!

 

[arthur2sheds]

Hmmmmmm.... on the one hand you have a VERY small army of official EA Bailiffs (I've seen one in the last 17 years) and then there is the public supported bailiff system, which in truth has no real power, with no mandate via a warrant card to back up or validate any actions, (all they can to is call the police) and then there is the police force.... already overstretched, underfunded and understaffed.... laudable though the intention is, I doubt that it'll have any real effect.... I'd presume that the publicity of such an operation is more of a deterrent, than the actual operation itself....!

But if it stops poachers, licence dodgers or folk taking fish illegally then all to the good (note... I do not include kids in the licence dodgers group, re: "the fiver rod licence debate")

 

[Peter Jacobs]

all they can to is call the police

. . . who are then obliged by law now to respond provinding the Crime number is given, which I am certain this Task Force will do.

The Code number is: 116/11 and once stated ot the Police they are noe obliged to respond.

See: http://www.fishingmagic.com/news_events/news/17547-code-for-theft-of-fishing-rights.html

 

[thecrow]

Is there a time period during which our ever shrinking/underfunded/overstretched police service should attend to incidents of this type? or is it as and when they have the time? or is it entirely down to whoever takes the phone call and what priority they place on the call?

 

[arthur2sheds]

you'll forgive my cynicism when I tell you that an attempted burglary at my home was responded to, two weeks after I reported it... their response was "Well nobody was hurt and nothing taken" so what response do you expect to get if you report someone fishing "allegedly" illegally...? as I said the publicity is probably more of a deterrent than the actual operation

 

[thecrow]

I only asked because in reality the time difference between reporting a case of illegal fishing and a police officer being able to attend due to other more pressing crimes may mean that the offender has gone when they do attend.

 

[chrissh]

I have witnessed illegal fishing 3 times now and reported to both EA & police I have been given a case number then nothing no EA or Police
the proof in the pudding from my experience you ant going to get any pudding

 

[S-Kippy]

Well its better than nothing...and if they nab a certain micro-celebrity angler poaching AGAIN then I'm all for it.

 

[nicepix]

There are national guidelines governing police responses; Immediate, Priority and Scheduled. Immediate responses are serious RTC, serious assault in progress and things like special alarms or medical emergencies.

For reports classed as 'Priorities' there has to be an officer there within 45 minutes. These include domestic violence, sex crimes and racial hatred.

Almost everything else falls into the 'Scheduled' class and I suspect that is where these reports would fall unless there are aggravating factors such as (are you paying attention ) the threat or apprehension of immediate violence being used against someone, suspicion of weapons being carried or even racial comments directed against the British bailiffs by foreign poachers. Remember that race hate crimes work both ways

Because senior officers have lost the plot and cannot manage the active incident queue they now downgrade what used to be immediate or priority incidents such as burglaries and car crime unless it is in progress. Therefore any theft of fish 'in progress' should be graded at least a priority if not an immediate. You can always ask the police operator how he or she has graded the incident.

 

[stu_the_blank]

Let's hope that it does make a difference. It's got to be an improvement.

Stu

 

[Judas Priest]

Another laudable but unworkable idea. The police do not have the manpower to attend "crimes" more serious than nicking a few fish so this is going to be far down the list of priorities no matter the political head nodding.

As for non warranted "volunteer bailiffs" they have no more rights than joe public in asking to see your license or anything else.

 

[Titus]

Source: Angling Trust

People who fish illegally are poachers and, report the Angling Trust, the police understand that poachers are often involved in wider criminality, including theft and drugs and that several million anglers represent a valuable source of rural intelligence.

Another good reason for abolishing the outdated notion which is the coarse fishing close season.

 

[Ray Wood 1]

Another good reason for abolishing the outdated notion which is the coarse fishing close season.

Absolute rubbish, no offense intended why not get the EA to do their job?

Ade,do you really think abolishing the close season will stop these people? They are up to this during the season and no one can stop them. The police are overloaded and cannot deal with real crimes that happen on our streets day in day out.

Regards
Ray

 

[thecrow]

There are national guidelines governing police responses; Immediate, Priority and Scheduled. Immediate responses are serious RTC, serious assault in progress and things like special alarms or medical emergencies.

For reports classed as 'Priorities' there has to be an officer there within 45 minutes. These include domestic violence, sex crimes and racial hatred.

Almost everything else falls into the 'Scheduled' class and I suspect that is where these reports would fall unless there are aggravating factors such as (are you paying attention ) the threat or apprehension of immediate violence being used against someone, suspicion of weapons being carried or even racial comments directed against the British bailiffs by foreign poachers. Remember that race hate crimes work both ways

Because senior officers have lost the plot and cannot manage the active incident queue they now downgrade what used to be immediate or priority incidents such as burglaries and car crime unless it is in progress. Therefore any theft of fish 'in progress' should be graded at least a priority if not an immediate. You can always ask the police operator how he or she has graded the incident.

Thanks for that NP, it would seem that to ensure immediate attendance that the caller mentioning the fact that they dare not approach the offender for fear of violence is the way to go.

 

[arthur2sheds]

why not get the EA to do their job?

Basically because there are not enough of them..... I've not been asked for a licence in 17 years and counting... The number of EA bailiffs is staggeringly low, every time there is a round of public service cuts the EA suffers

 

[thecrow]

every time there is a round of public service cuts the EA suffers

But there is no reduction in the licence fee to compensate for the drop in services, maybe its time that the good guy's were kept in work and the dead wood sitting on their ar*** behind desk's were got rid of, things will never change until the fisheries part of the EA are no longer part of the EA, to many groups within the EA pulling in different directions.

 

[nicepix]

Another laudable but unworkable idea. The police do not have the manpower to attend "crimes" more serious than nicking a few fish so this is going to be far down the list of priorities no matter the political head nodding.

As for non warranted "volunteer bailiffs" they have no more rights than joe public in asking to see your license or anything else.

I disagree. The police have more than enough resources to deal properly with this issue. The problem is that the management don't know how to use them. At any one time more than half of the available response officers will be tied up dealing with laughable 'threats' and abuse made via text or on social media that only the idiots who run the police believe to be serious incident. The complainants don't really believe them to be serious. But they know that they can make a complaint and use the police to get one up on their current partner's ex who they don't like. I could deal with these matters in a matter of five minutes, but the younger, less street-wise officers will go by the book, take statements, send phones and computers off for analysis and then find that the complainant has done much the same as the accused and so the whole thing has been a waste of a lot of time.

A lot of the other officers who should be available to deal with things like theft and burglary are sitting outside cells or hospital rooms containing vulnerable or violent prisoners / patients. When the NHS or Council Mental Health Teams trim their budgets the police end up taking on more work that isn't really their responsibility. But no one in the police hierarchy has the balls to hold the NHS and councils to task.

Unfortunately there has to be losers in this little game and those losers are people like you who suffer a crime and don't see any proper investigation of it. So, if you were a bailiff, civilian or not, and 'believed' that there was an imminent threat to your safety and you made this clear to the operator then you would get the resources directed to deal with the incident.

 

[arthur2sheds]

Scenario.....

you see some shifty cove setting a long line across your water.... you are a public bailiff (no power of warrant) you shout out "Oi you" and the b*££er runs off, you call the police, as there is no threat to you or your property & as you've halted a crime in progress, the police will give you an incident number and pop to your house to take a statement, when they get round to it..... what earthly good will that have done? other than scared the original miscreant away for the day, to pop back when you are not about and carry on his nefarious work.....

The publicity that the police bailiffs and public bailiffs are out and about will possibly put a few shifty b*ggers on their toes for a while, then the fuss'll die down, then it'll be business as usual

 

[thecrow]

Scenario.....

you see some shifty cove setting a long line across your water.... you are a public bailiff (no power of warrant) you shout out "Oi you" and the b*££er runs off, you call the police, as there is no threat to you or your property & as you've halted a crime in progress, the police will give you an incident number and pop to your house to take a statement, when they get round to it..... what earthly good will that have done? other than scared the original miscreant away for the day, to pop back when you are not about and carry on his nefarious work.....

The publicity that the police bailiffs and public bailiffs are out and about will possibly put a few shifty b*ggers on their toes for a while, then the fuss'll die down, then it'll be business as usual

Maybe in the scenario you describe it would be better not to shout "oi" but to phone and report it but also mentioning that you haven't approached him as you believe that he could be violent.