Katy Bourne joins South East PCCs in tackling waste crime

On Tuesday 3 June, PCC Katy Bourne attended a roundtable hosted by Kent's Police & Crime Commissioner, Matthew Scott.

The roundtable bought together all PCC's and key partner agencies to discuss tackling organised waste crime in the South East.

Speaking about the meeting in her weekly newsletter, Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said: "On Tuesday, I attended a roundtable hosted by Kent's Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott, bringing together the South East PCCs and key partner agencies to discuss tackling organised waste crime across our region. 

"'Waste crime' is a broad term covering anything from fly-tipping to large-scale commercial waste disposal. These activities are illegal, hazardous to our environment, extremely costly to clear up and by no means victimless. 

"In 2023/24, over 100,000 cases of fly-tipping occurred in the South East with 49,000 of these on highways, 28,000 on public land and 3,000 on private land. Many of these crimes are carried out by organised crime gangs who use tipper lorries and large vans. 

"At the roundtable we heard from partners including the Environment Agency (EA) National Farmers Union, The Country Land and Business Association and the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit. We discussed prevention, disruption, data-sharing, enforcement and reporting.

"Whilst it is the responsibility of local authorities and the EA to investigate, clear and enforce the law on these matters, it is vital that police forces are sighted and give full support to operations that involve catching these brazen criminals. 

"I spoke to ITV (timestamp - 02:30) and BBC Radio Sussex (timestamp - 2:12:40)  during the day to share my thoughts, particularly on using technology to take down these gangs. We know that many people use video doorbells so I suggested that, if people catch illegal waste crime on their cameras and the footage is then used to successfully prosecute someone, the owner of that footage should be eligible to receive a percentage of the fine levied on the offender?"