Summer of success for Cambridgeshire's Rural Action Crime Team sees 24 arrests

Dismantling cannabis factories, reuniting people with stolen property and operational drone flying have been part of a busy summer for the Rural Crime Action Team.

The team have attended 821 incidents, made 24 arrests, conducted eight warrants, dismantled 35 drugs factories and made 18 prosecutions throughout a jam-packed few months.

In addition, 37 items of stolen farm machinery, including plant and trailers, and 27 vehicles were recovered over the summer period.

RCAT Sergeant Craig Flavell said: “We’ve had a very busy spring and summer and achieved some exceptional results, which are demonstrated in the statistics and show how committed the team is to tackling criminality within the rural communities.

“With the latest edition of drone capability and armed with a new fleet of vehicles we have spent 97 hours of operational drone flying, particularly helping combat acquisitive crime across the county.

“We have also been assisting and offering support to other departments during the Covid-19 crisis.”

The team is now concentrating their efforts on hare coursing with crime prevention action plans to follow in the coming weeks.

The team comprises of nine officers and staff working across Cambridgeshire. They work all year round, combating theft, heritage crime, hunting, rural and wildlife crimes and working alongside partner agencies including the local and county councils, RSPCA, Environment Agency and Crown Prosecution Service.

RCAT have their own Twitter account to engage with rural communities. The social network is used to promote work to keep rural areas of Cambridgeshire safe and enables officers to engage directly with those interested in rural crime.

For updates follow @CambsRuralCops on Twitter or search the hashtag #RCAT.