I have always been a firm believer that in order to be successful in the relentless pursuit of criminals each individual part of the criminal justice system must work together. That’s why for the last three years I have acted as a chair of the Dorset Criminal Justice Board. The board brings together partners from throughout the criminal justice system, such as Dorset Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, Probation and the NHS to provide an effective criminal justice system, focusing on offering a high standard of service to victims and witnesses, protecting the public, reducing crime and reoffending.

This joined-up approach should not only exist within the criminal justice system. We must also foster partnership working across sectors if we are to truly get to the root cause of crimes. Since being PCC I have tried to establish more opportunities for such joined-up working, whether in tackling business crime through the Dorset Safer Business Partnership or fighting rural crime through the Dorset Partnership Against Rural Crime.

I have also worked with my fellow PCCs across the southwest on many occasions, for instance in successfully lobbying the government to bring in tough sanctions for fly-tipping or in launching a South West Rural Crime Survey to give our rural residents a chance to have their voices heard. Working across county borders and with neighbouring forces is also something the force has been doing more and more. Firstly, through Operation Scorpion, which sees all five forces across south west come together to put a ring of steel around the region and tackle county lines and also through Operation Ragwort the new joined-up operation to tackle rural crime across county borders.

In recent months we have had great success in this joined-up approach to tackling crime, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what I consider a triumph in the fight against rural crime. On Friday 19th of January, two individuals known to be prolific offenders of various rural crimes were sentenced to a total of 8 and half years in prison. The pair were found guilty of several offences including causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

The pair were already well know known to the force but for a long time, it seemed they couldn’t be caught. After months of monitoring and with support from Hampshire Police, Dorset Police’s Rural Crime Team, carried out search warrants at two addresses in Christchurch in late 2022, during which a mobile phone was recovered. The phone turned out to be what officers have described as an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of offences, containing a vast number of videos and pictures illustrating the sickening acts the two offenders had subjected animals to, seemingly for their own and others' perverse amusement.

However, due to the statutory time limit on wildlife crime legislation, the force was limited in what the pair could be charged with. Officers on Dorset Police’s Rural Crime Team were determined to see justice served and due to their expert knowledge of the legislation around animal cruelty, they were able to work with Wessex Crown Prosecution Service to cleverly apply legislation that protects pets and domesticated animals to a number of the crimes evidenced on the mobile phone.

The pair committed deplorable and sickening acts of cruelty as well as offences that strike at the heart of our rural community and I am pleased to see that they have received such sentences from the court. Such an outcome was only achieved because Dorset Police, Hampshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service all worked together to ensure that these offenders were caught and received the sentence they deserved.

I’d like to thank every officer and partner agency involved in this investigation for their dedication and commitment to seeing justice served. To bring such a prolific offenders to justice is very reassuring.

I hope this sends a clear message that Dorset Police takes all rural crime, including animal cruelty, seriously and I hope you will be reassured to know that cross-border, inter-agency, partnership working will continue and will grow as we strive to make Dorset the safest county.

You can see more of the great work being done by Dorset Police's Rural Crime Team over on social media today as they live tweet every call the team respond to. Follow #RuralLive or @RuralCrimeTeam.

David Sidwick

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner