More intelligence is needed to help tackle the problem of forest crime in South Wales, the UK Forest Products Association (UKFPA) has said.
Its appeal followed a police meeting with UKFPA members during which the Forestry Commission in South Wales was identified as having more incidents of crime than any other forest district in the UK.
PC Andrew Scourfield, Forestry Commission Wales’ forest crime officer, delivered a range of advice and guidance on forest crimes and anti-social behaviour to UKFPA members at the Montgomery meeting, as well as outlining the scope of criminal incidents occuring in the country’s forests.
He highlighted 15 types of offence that are occuring on Forestry Commission land, with off-road vehicle trespassing, criminal damage to harvesting equipment, arson, auto-crime, theft, fly-tipping, sexual offences, concealment of drugs and deer poaching among the most common.
UKFPA said there was a clear need for more information to help tackle the problem of forest crime on all levels and improve “detection and prosecution rates”.
