North Yorkshire Police has said it will not “resort straight away” to criminal prosecution of travellers who set up illegal encampments.
Travellers have pitched up at Hay-a-Park in Knaresborough and on the playing field at Ashville College in Harrogate this month.
Asked today by a member of the public why officers did not use the Criminal Disorder Act 1984, which prohibits trespassing, deputy chief constable Phil Cain said the police always looked to resolve the matter at “the earliest opportunity”.
But he added the force had a “graduated response” to dealing with such incidents.
DCC Cain, speaking at a North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner public accountability meeting, said police had to balance the human rights of all those involved, particularly as the travelling community often has families with small children.
He said:
“The graduated response from North Yorkshire Police, as it is with other forces, is that we will not resort straight away to criminal prosecution. We will engage with the travelling community and the land owners as we have done on this occasion.
“We will seek to resolve the matter at the earliest opportunity using the least intrusive means possible. That includes graduating up through private land owners utilising powers in civil courts for unlicensed travellers settlements all the way through to the final element, which would be criminal prosecution.
“On this occasion, local officers have engaged with the travelling community and they have agreed to move on without the need for us to resort to criminal prosecution.”
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“It’s not that we are not prepared to use these powers, it’s that there has to be a graduated response and we have to show that graduated response in order to show that we are complying with the Human Rights Act.”
Last week travellers set up camp on Ashville College’s rugby pitch and demanded £5,000 to leave, according to a college spokesperson.
However, after less than two days the travellers hitched up their caravans and moved on. The college said they left of their own accord.
Hay-a-Park rugby field in Knaresborough was sealed off by police and deemed to be a health hazard due to the amount of human excrement after travellers departed on August 10.
A police cordon sealing off Hay-a-Park rugby field after travellers left.
