Police failed to recover stolen property or to make arrests after tracking a van which had stolen vehicle parts, and during which a shotgun was apparently brandished - because they needed to complete a 'risk assessment' before entering the travellers site.
The farce began when father and son Paul and Sean Stanley, who owns a farm in Northamptonshire, gave chase to the van after neighbours alerted them to a break in at their farm on Sunday night.
During the pursuit a passenger in the van appeared to brandish a shotgun, but Mr Stanley continued to follow until the van entered the Ecton Lane travellers site.
"I saw them wave a shotgun at me but I was so angry I carried on following them until they pulled up at the traveller’s site. I had been on the phone to the police the whole time and they asked me to meet them back at the farm" said Sean Stanley.
Police later visited the Ecton Lane site, and confirmed that the van was there - but refused to recover it and made no arrests.
"After describing everything to the police they said they would go down there. I followed a little while later to find them sitting outside. They told me they couldn’t recover the van because they hadn’t had a risk assessment." Sean Stanley said.
"Three police officers did enter the site at Ecton Lane and located the suspect vehicle but an assessment was made not to recover the vehicle in the early hours of this morning" said a spokesman for Northamptonshire Police.
So, if it's not safe for police to recover the van, is it fair to say that police do not regard these travellers as the 'quaint and friendly' folk with an alternative lifestyle that we're always getting told about by officialdom?
Is it that bane of common sense and equality, 'cultural sensitivity' at play again?
Isn't it likely that there would have been armed units despatched under other circumstances since a firearm was involved?
Or, altogether innocent of such prejudices, is it just that the police are hamstrung by an 'elf n safety culture?
Take your pick, any or all of the above. Either way it doesn't look good for the police there.
So much for law and order, and swiftly dealing with crime and criminals.
Police failed to recover stolen property or to make arrests after tracking a van which had stolen vehicle parts, and during which a shotgun was apparently brandished - because they needed to complete a 'risk assessment' before entering the travellers site.
