And photographs, if you have any.
Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Nick White
Nick White helps police dramatically reduce costs and improve safety.
World Horse Welfare has been working together with Hertfordshire Constabulary to successfully reduce injury to horses, their officers, and cut their equine-related costs by thousands of pounds.
In 2007, Nick White joined the charity as a Field Officer covering the Hertfordshire area, and at the time, the constabulary were spending a great deal of time and resource dealing with stray horses on the roads and illegal grazing. As a result, Nick White was asked by the constabulary to help advise on how they could best deal with dangerous and time-consuming issues.
At the time, equine-related costs were as much as £60,000 a year for Hertfordshire Constabulary, but over the past 18 months they have now been reduced to around £2,000. This has been achieved through a ‘Greenyard Procedure’.
The procedure works as follows: -
- An incident where horses are loose and straying on the public Highways is reported to Hertfordshire Constabulary.
- Clarification of location and relevant dangers by call takers.
- Dispatching of unit to the scene.
- When the horses are located and have been contained safely, as soon as the location has been made safe, officers will attempt to contact the owners or persons responsible for them to arrange removal.
- Owners who allow their horses to stray onto the public Highway may be liable to prosecution under The Highways Act 1980 depending on the circumstances.
- If owner or persons responsible cannot be traced, horses on the public Highway will be removed to a place of safety i.e. a greenyard.
- The Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) will lead enquiries to trace the owner.
- If the animal is not claimed within 15 days then the rights of ownership will pass to the greenyard and they have authorisation to sell or rehome the horse/s as appropriate.
- If the horse is not claimed then Hertfordshire Constabulary is only liable for costs up to the 15 days.
Nick White commented on the partnership working by saying: “It has been extremely rewarding to play an instrumental role in improving the way the constabulary deals with horse-related issues which has also lead to a huge reduction in costs for them. One of the key changes as a result of the Greenyard Procedure has been the increased awareness and training of officers so they know how to deal with a horse if they come across one.
“Stray horses on the roads are a real danger, often very frightened they sometimes resort to their flight instinct. They may cause accidents, close major highways for hours and put public lives in danger.
“Horses on the public Highways are a police matter but if a horse is injured or suffering then the relevant welfare organisations such as World Horse Welfare would be contacted to assist.”
The Greenyard Procedure has been recognised for its success as Hertfordshire Police have been nominated for a Tilley Award 2011 for their efforts.
Inspector Duncan Grieves from Hertfordshire Constabulary said: “Hertfordshire has the largest population of horses per square mile compared to any other county in the country. Therefore, we were seeing a rising number of incidents of horses straying from their enclosures onto public highways and land, leading to increased danger.
“But with the Greenyayd Procedure the amount of time officers have to spend dealing with actual incidents of recovering stray horses has now been greatly reduced. The availability of the greenyard allows officers to move on quickly to deal with other incidents.”
Field Officer Nick White is now working with other police forces to encourage them to adopt similar procedures. Nick goes on to say: “I think it would be tremendously beneficial for more constabularies to consider re-thinking their procedures when dealing with horse-related issues as the Greenyard Procedure has substantially reduced the dangers involved with horses and members of the public, as well as reduce the costs for Hertfordshire Police.”