NORTHUMBRIA Police has teamed up with eight forces across the north of England in a joint strike against cross-board poachers.

Significant work has already been undertaken under the banner of Operation Hawkeye to help protect rural communities and target transient criminals who travel large distances between counties to commit crime.

And that work has been boosted by the creation of a region-wide Community Protection Notice (CPN), which will see all nine forces work as one to prosecute poachers and rural offenders.

The move will hand police and the courts significantly greater powers to combat and prosecute serial cross-border criminals who breach their CPN conditions by repeatedly targeting rural victims.

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Northumbria Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Debbie Ford, who is also the national policing lead for Rural and Wildlife Crime, said: "This is a significant and innovative move that will help us combat rural crime not only in Northumbria but across the North of England.

"It is one of the biggest collective crackdowns of its kind in the UK and should send a clear message to those who target our most remote communities - rural crime will not be tolerated.

"Tackling and preventing rural crime is a priority for the Force and this latest initiative builds on the extensive work already underway with our partners.

"The initiative will see a collaboration between Forces to share intelligence and jointly prosecute poachers and offenders who travel across borders to attempt to disguise their criminality.

"By working together, we can continue to protect our communities and bring effective justice against perpetrators."

The innovative new scheme, supported by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), means offenders who commit offences across multiple counties can be prosecuted jointly by the respective forces.

Before this, if someone committed an offence in one force area and then travelled to a different county to carry out a second offence, both cases would have been heard in isolation.

The police forces involved are Northumbria Police, Cleveland Police, Durham Constabulary, Cumbria Constabulary, Humberside Police, North Yorkshire Police, South Yorkshire Police, West Yorkshire Police and Lancashire Police.

Northumbria Police said over the coming weeks, dedicated Rural Policing Team will be looking to issue the CPNs for the first time during a number of planned operations.