Fwd: [OFFICIAL] MPS Central Wildlife Crime Unit - DISBANDED

[Edward Mayer]

Dear Swift Friends & Colleagues, some unhelpful information here, I fear. Do you have any questions I can refer to Sarah? Best wishes, Edward

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	[OFFICIAL] MPS Central Wildlife Crime Unit - DISBANDED
Date:	Fri, 5 Jul 2024 10:55:17 +0000
From:	Sarah.A...@met.police.uk
To:	Sarah.A...@met.police.uk

Hello Valued Partners

 

I hope you’re keeping well, I’m just checking to see if you recently received the email communication below from DI Saunders?  As our management had taken the unpopular decision to disband the MPS Wildlife Crime Unit they asked us for a list of partners that should be informed, yours was one of the valued organisations I put forward so I’m just checking that the notification reached you?  If it did I would suggest it is rather ambiguous as it suggests that although there are changes the “Detectives previously attached to the Met’s Central Wildlife Crime Unit will now focus on assisting borough policing tackling local crime problems” – it does not clearly point out that these local crime problems will NOT involve wildlife crime as we are to take on no further wildlife crime investigations, native or CITES related.  I just wanted to make sure you were fully sighted on this.  If you have any questions / concerns please don’t hesitate to come back to me.

 

Kind regards and thank you for all your support over the years

 

Sarah B

 

DC Sarah Bailey
MO2 - Cobalt Square, 1 South Lambeth Road, Vauxhall, LONDON, SW8 1SU

Tel:     0207 230 8898   Mob:  07748 133 873   Met:   768898
Email:  Sarah.A...@met.pnn.police.uk

 

Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

 

 

From: Saunders Aaron J - MO2 Met Intelligence <Aaron.J....@met.police.uk>
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2024 8:34 PM
To: Saunders Aaron J - MO2 Met Intelligence <Aaron.J....@met.police.uk>
Cc: Stonehouse Seb - MO2 Met Intelligence <seb.Sto...@met.police.uk>
Subject: MPS Central Wildlife Crime Unit

 

Dear Partners,

 

I would like to inform you of some changes to the Central Wildlife Crime Unit within the Metropolitan Police Service.

 

Within our New Met for London plan we have been clear about our priority areas and what will be needed to deliver more trust, less crime and high standards.

 

Detectives previously attached to the Met’s Central Wildlife Crime Unit will now focus on assisting borough policing tackling local crime problems. This is in line with our focus on data-driven policing to help keep communities safe.

 

The MPS will continue to investigate any allegations of crime involving wildlife and a function still remains within the Central Wildlife Crime Unit, who are working closely with the National Wildlife Crime (NWCU) Unit to support a number of Borough Wildlife Crime Officers (BWCOs) who work across London.

 

In the next few weeks I will aim to send you further communications on this and outline if there are any changes in our processes in order to continue working together and maintain our relationships.

 

Regards

 

Aaron

 

 

Aaron Saunders |  A/Detective Chief Inspector

Central Intelligence | MO2 - Met Intel

Prussian, Cobalt Square, 1 South Lambeth Road, SW8 1SU

Mobile: 07824472483

  

 

NOTICE - This email and any attachments are solely for the intended recipient and may be confidential. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete it from your system. Do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this email or in any attachment without the permission of the sender. Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) communication systems are monitored to the extent permitted by law and any email and/or attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are authorised to conclude binding agreements on behalf of the MPS by email and no responsibility is accepted for unauthorised agreements reached with other personnel. While reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no viruses are present in this email, its security and that of any attachments cannot be guaranteed.

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the originator of the message. This footer also confirms that this email message has been scanned for the presence of computer viruses. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifies and with authority, states them to be the views of British Transport Police.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments are solely for the intended recipient and may be confidential. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete it from your system. Do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this email or in any attachment without the permission of the sender. Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) communication systems are monitored to the extent permitted by law and any email and/or attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are authorised to conclude binding agreements on behalf of the MPS by email and no responsibility is accepted for unauthorised agreements reached with other personnel. While reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no viruses are present in this email, its security and that of any attachments cannot be guaranteed.

[@EssendineSwifts]

Dear Edward,

Mike and I were talking to a contact at Westminster Council who also told us this news. From what he told us, my guess is that they are hoping that Wildlife Crime will be policed instead by Borough Wildlife Crime Officers, who are police officers who take on this as a VOLUNTARY extra role, and therefore don't need paying for the extra work they do in policing wildlife crime on top of their normal policing duties. I suppose of course it's a cost cutting exercise. However there are not a lot of BWCOs, and a great deal of Boroughs do not have them at all.

Our friend at the council told us that the council are wondering if they can rely on (different) Wildlife Officers who are still attached to the Royal Parks, and that one of these officers had previous stepped in when someone was involved in a bird crime (I can't remember if it was trapping pigeons or illegally breeding birds) in Lancaster Gate, which is right next to Hyde Park. He said he didn't know how often these officers would be able to step in like this and that his department in the council which deals with problems to do with animals (mostly dogs) are still thinking about how they are going to proceed now after this news. He said that another drawback in this is that the regular training sessions will now stop: for example, when I rang 101 and was told incorrect information, Sarah Bailey afterwards told me that they run regular training sessions to inform the 101 staff what the law actually is on things like disturbing nests. Otherwise they won't know this and will give incorrect information such as I received (they said that scaffolding blocking the swift nest was not a crime and that I should inform the council and that nothing could be done and certainly not by the police.) There is no point in having laws if they cannot be policed and if even the police don't know about them.

There were only two officers in the MPS Central Wildlife Crime Unit for the whole of London but despite this, Sarah Bailey from this unit was very helpful to us when a nest site was recently blocked by scaffolding - she got the scaffolding taken down promptly by ringing the scaffolding company, so it is pretty awful if we can no longer rely on the police to uphold wildlife laws, and does not fit in with the remit in the letter of "more trust, less crime and high standards."

My questions to Sarah would be, "Who do I contact for help in future situations when the same thing happens?"  

Also when she says, "it does not clearly point out that these local crime problems will NOT involve wildlife crime" is this a typo and does she mean it clearly DOES point this out? The letter reads as though the unit's function will now be to train BWCOs, so does it mean that Sarah will not be directly involved but will be advising the BWCOs how to deal with things? In which case, if there are none in the borough, what happens then? - in those cases it will be less trust in the police, more crime and lower standards, as far as I can see!

Kind regards

Talya

Brent and Westminster Swifts Group

(@Essendineswifts)

[Peta Sams - Shropshire Swift Group]

There is a petition asking the Met to rethink. I’ve signed - hope you will too

https://action.naturewatch.org/tell-met-why-axing-their-wildlife-crime-unit-bad-move

On Friday 5 July 2024 at 20:17:58 UTC+1 Edward Mayer - Swift Conservation wrote:

[@EssendineSwifts]

Thanks, Peta,

I have signed and said this:

"This is already causing less trust in the police, more crime and lower standards.
There is now nobody to help when a swift nest is blocked. These red-listed birds now have no protection from the laws that are there to protect them. If a law is unenforced, it may as well not be there. If there are no Borough Wildlife Crime Officers in the borough, what happens then?
Also there is now no training on Wildlife Protection law for 101 call handlers, which means not only are the laws un-enforcable, but also the public will receive incorrect information about the law. It will be as if the laws do not exist: I recently rang 101 and was told the police cannot help - this now seems to be the case.
Criminal behaviour can now go completely unpunished, and even un-noticed."

(this is just for the Met police in London, is it? Is the situation better around the country?)

[Jon and Camilla Barlow]

Have done.

 

Camilla

Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

 

 

From: Saunders Aaron J - MO2 Met Intelligence <Aaron.J....@met.police.uk>
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2024 8:34 PM
To: Saunders Aaron J - MO2 Met Intelligence <Aaron.J....@met.police.uk>
Cc: Stonehouse Seb - MO2 Met Intelligence <seb.Sto...@met.police.uk>
Subject: MPS Central Wildlife Crime Unit

 

Dear Partners,

 

I would like to inform you of some changes to the Central Wildlife Crime Unit within the Metropolitan Police Service.

 

Within our New Met for London plan we have been clear about our priority areas and what will be needed to deliver more trust, less crime and high standards.

 

Detectives previously attached to the Met’s Central Wildlife Crime Unit will now focus on assisting borough policing tackling local crime problems. This is in line with our focus on data-driven policing to help keep communities safe.

 

The MPS will continue to investigate any allegations of crime involving wildlife and a function still remains within the Central Wildlife Crime Unit, who are working closely with the National Wildlife Crime (NWCU) Unit to support a number of Borough Wildlife Crime Officers (BWCOs) who work across London.

 

In the next few weeks I will aim to send you further communications on this and outline if there are any changes in our processes in order to continue working together and maintain our relationships.

 

Regards

 

Aaron

 

 

Aaron Saunders |  A/Detective Chief Inspector

Central Intelligence | MO2 - Met Intel

Prussian, Cobalt Square, 1 South Lambeth Road, SW8 1SU

Mobile: 07824472483

  

 

NOTICE - This email and any attachments are solely for the intended recipient and may be confidential. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete it from your system. Do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this email or in any attachment without the permission of the sender. Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) communication systems are monitored to the extent permitted by law and any email and/or attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are authorised to conclude binding agreements on behalf of the MPS by email and no responsibility is accepted for unauthorised agreements reached with other personnel. While reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no viruses are present in this email, its security and that of any attachments cannot be guaranteed.

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the originator of the message. This footer also confirms that this email message has been scanned for the presence of computer viruses. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifies and with authority, states them to be the views of British Transport Police.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments are solely for the intended recipient and may be confidential. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete it from your system. Do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this email or in any attachment without the permission of the sender. Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) communication systems are monitored to the extent permitted by law and any email and/or attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are authorised to conclude binding agreements on behalf of the MPS by email and no responsibility is accepted for unauthorised agreements reached with other personnel. While reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no viruses are present in this email, its security and that of any attachments cannot be guaranteed.

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[Kirsten Foster - Hackney Swifts, London]

I've tweeted about this and signed the petition. I tagged London mayor and the Mayor of Hackney, Caroline Woodley - she has replied with concern and asked me to forward any correspondence I had about this. Would it be ok to copy and paste the emails from Aaron Saunders and Sarah Bailey to her? I mean would the original poster be ok for me to do so?
Thanks

On Friday 5 July 2024 at 20:17:58 UTC+1 Edward Mayer - Swift Conservation wrote: