Cross-border criminals and poachers firmly in officers' sights

Cross-border criminals and poachers have been warned they are firmly in officers’ sights as a rural crime crackdown gathers momentum.

Operation Checkpoint is set to continue with a series of strike days planned over the coming weeks and months to prevent and tackle rural acquisitive crime, wildlife and poaching offences.

The largest rural crime operation of its kind in the UK, Op Checkpoint sees police, partners and volunteers team together to target criminals known to travel substantial distances between counties to commit crime across the North of England and Scotland.

With the harvest season now underway, police are starting to receive reports of hare coursing, poaching as well as suspicious vehicles travelling across the region’s rural areas.

So officers have taken swift action in a bid to put the brakes on criminality, building on this summer’s activity which saw hundreds of proactive stops across the region’s rural roads.