Following liaison with officers in the Tandridge District on a number of rural crime initiatives over the past year BASC south east were invited to deliver a presentation on sporting shooting and poaching to neighbourhood police teams from the district.
The first part of the training session highlighted to officers the different forms of sporting shooting, and provided a chance to look at types of firearm and other equipment used. Regional director Dan Reynolds who delivered the training said “increasing the level of awareness of field sports amongst officers, aims to assist them to deliver a better service when dealing with legitimate firearm users”.
The second part of the morning was spent discussing poaching offences and police powers in relation to searching and arresting suspects. The session also provided an overview of the ‘tell-tale’ signs of game and deer poaching to aid officers in identifying potential cases of poaching and likely offenders.
The training session was well received by the officers. Sergeant Green who organised the training day said “Dan at BASC provided an entertaining and thoroughly informative presentation on the work of BASC. He tailored the presentation to cover relevant topics that directly apply to the everyday work of the local police officers within the rural community. Every officer present came away from the day having learnt something and I would recommend any officer working in a rural environment to speak to BASC”