Cambridgeshire police chief pledges lessons will be learned after crime spree
Hare coursing, criminal damage and dangerous driving were reported
Last updated 31st Jan 2025
A Cambridgeshire Police chief has said the force is determined to learn lessons with how it dealt with widespread criminality in the Fens.
Hare coursing, criminal damage and dangerous driving was reported in Fordham, Ely, Prickwillow, Littleport, Welney, Chatteris, Manea, Wimblington and Doddington at the weekend.
At a public meeting held in Manea this week, the county's chief constable Nick Dean apologised for how police responded to the incidents.
Response 'makes me feel sad'
"We did put extra resourcing on for the day, but that wasn't enough and unfortunately the rural crime action team (RCAT), who are excellent at this, weren't working that day," Superintendent Ben Martin, area commander for Peterborough and Fenland, said.
"It makes me feel sad because I don't want us to be defined by this one incident going forward."
After that meeting, North East Cambridgeshire MP Steve Barclay - who chaired the event - said Mr Dean confirmed "additional resources would be deployed this weekend and in future weekends".
Mr Barclay added that the meeting "reflected the strength of concern locally and wider worries on rural policing".
Criminality 'shouldn't be happening'
Mr Martin said what happened on Saturday was "unprecedented in terms of size and scale,", but that there has been an "increased police presence" in rural communities since that day.
"It shouldn't be happening and about strength of feeling and people feeling unsafe I'm not naive to think we can turn that around in a day, but the scale of (police) response to this will give them confidence," he added.
"Short-term, we've put measures in place around our call centre response and command management of incidents; longer-term, we're committed to making sure something like this doesn't happen again."
Anyone with any information and video footage of those involved is asked to email Cambridgeshire Police's RCAT at: [email protected] or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or online.