Illegal f ishing sends wildlife crime soaring

WILDLIFE crime has more than doubled after growing numbers of people took up fishing as lockdown eased, police figures reveal.

The first detailed analysis of crime from April to June showed a marked rise in offending such as failure to get fishing permits.

Hunting with dogs is at a five-year high after the number of cases rose by 46 per cent, while there were more than 20 hare coursing incidents.

Meanwhile, the figures also show other categories of crime fell during lockdown – but there were rises in online child sex offences, fraud and domestic abuse.

Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said: ‘Police Scotland recognises that restrictions will continue to have a major impact on the way we live our lives.

‘As we respond to these new measures, the policing style and tone will remain consistent, engaging with people in our communities and adopting a common sense approach.’

Police Scotland figures showed wildlife crime has more than doubled from 56 to 133 between April-June last year and the same period this year.

A police report said: ‘This is due to a range of factors, including Covid-19 and a real shift towards people taking up fishing as this was one of the first restrictions to be lifted.

‘This can be evidenced through the rise of salmon and freshwater fisheries offences, increasing 450 per cent from 10 to 55 crimes.

‘Another impact has been from the training being provided to officers through the wildlife crime investigators course which started in January 2020.’

The report added: ‘Hunting with dogs has seen an increase over the period with 19 crimes committed, an increase of 13 offences from last year and at a five-year high.’

Police said that hare coursing contributed to this increase, including 21 offences across the Scottish Borders, east Lothian, Midlothian and Stirling, leading to four arrests.

Last night the Scottish Gamekeepers Association said: ‘The rise in hare coursing, identified here, is a real concern for land managers. estate staff and the police often work together well in these circumstances but it is an increasing problem, with potential for confrontation.’

The crime figures, to be discussed at a Scottish Police Authority public board meeting on Wednesday, also show domestic abuse increased, with the number of incidents logged rising from 15,852 to 17,244 between April and June 2019 and the same period this year.

Fraud cases rose from 2,502 to 3,857, a rise of 54.2 per cent.

The report said: ‘Commercial premises remain vulnerable due to “lockdown” with many premises remaining unattended for a prolonged period of time with stock remaining within.

‘Divisions have preventative additional patrol plans in place as well as delivering preventative advice to proprietors via their social media platforms.’

There were 846 housebreakings under the category including commercial premises, a decrease of 59 crimes compared with the same period last year.

online child sexual abuse offences soared by 21 per cent from 438 to 530.

overall crime figures fell from 63,794 to 58,024, down 9 per cent.

Violent crime incidents fell from 16,535 to 13,898 – down 15.9 per cent – while sex crime fell 15.4 per cent, from 3,460 cases to 2,928.

Assaults on police officers and staff were up 7.2 per cent from 1,656 to 1,775 – with about 12 per cent of them deemed to be Covid-related, involving coughing and spitting.

The number of 101 calls received jumped from 490,121 to 522,261, an increase of 6.6 per cent.

‘Potential for confrontation’