Hare coursing falls after borderless success

Hare coursing across the East of England has fallen by almost a third thanks to the success of a “borderless” scheme among police forces.

The crackdown on rural crime comes after Norfolk Police teamed up with six other police forces in September. Incidents of hare coursing across the seven force areas fell from 2044 in 2020-2021 to 1415 in 2021-2022, a drop of 31 per cent.

Borders between the forces - Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent - were removed when using certain tactics, which has made apprehending and prosecuting offenders easier.

The agreement, completed with the support of the Crown Prosecution Service, means the forces become one when using certain powers.

Over the past six months this has helped with the use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), the seizure of dogs and the sharing of all interactions and movements of people suspected to be involved in hare coursing.