All frontline police officers across Lincolnshire have been told not to take a holiday during the Brexit deadline week as the force prepares for possible fallout.
Operation Yellowhammer, a leaked government report into no-deal Brexit preparations, expects food and fuel shortages, as well as protests and counter-protests, with police time majorly devoted to handling “community tensions” that might happen.
With the current political situation in flux, it’s unclear whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be able to secure a new deal with the EU, or whether Parliament, due to return on Wednesday, will approve a deal — or whether an extension will be needed until January 31, 2020.
Currently, Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Bill Skelly is on annual leave for several weeks.
Temporary Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police, Jason Harwin
Temporary Chief Constable Jason Harwin said: “Here in Lincolnshire Police, as in many other forces throughout England and Wales, we have made detailed plans ready for if Britain leaves the European Union on October 31.
“These plans prepare for a number of contingencies and, as ever in policing, are based on a number of possible scenarios and are assessed around possible threat and risk.
“We prepare for everything because to not do so would be doing a disservice to the people of Lincolnshire.
“A request has been made of frontline officers to not take any leave during the week that we are due to leave the European Union.
“This is simply a precaution should extra resources be needed and is an action that we take relatively often in times of predicted high demand, for example.”
Temporary promotion for officer with driving conviction under investigation for misconduct
Temporary Chief Constable Jason Harwin added: “Unrelated, Chief Constable Bill Skelly is currently on annual leave, which was planned some time ago, and will return in mid-October.
“I am acting as Chief Constable in his absence, and Assistant Chief Constable Kerrin Wilson is acting as my Deputy Chief Constable.”
However, not all officers within the force are happy with the temporary promotion of ACC Wilson, who was convicted for driving without due care and attention in August this year after a crash near the force’s HQ in December 2018.
Assistant Chief Constable Kerrin Wilson has been temporarily promoted to Deputy Chief Constable
The Assistant Chief Constable was due to attend a driver improvement course in June but was refused at the door when she turned up ten minutes late.
She didn’t show up for the court hearing either, but sent a legal representative instead.
Kerrin Wilson was given seven points on her license and fined a total of £1,460, including a £125 victim surcharge and £85 in court costs.
Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Wilson is still being investigated for misconduct, which was downgraded from gross misconduct earlier this year.
The whistleblower within Lincolnshire Police told The Lincolnite they found this “particularly awful” as the Deputy Chief Constable is the senior officer in charge of discipline, making decisions on the fate of other officers.
Lincolnshire Police added in a statement: “After the criminal investigation relating to ACC Wilson’s motoring offence concluded, a misconduct investigation was initiated, which is standard practice, and is still being carried out by Derbyshire Police.
“It would not be appropriate to comment on the specifics of that investigation until its conclusion.
“There is nothing in police regulations to preclude a temporary promotion under these circumstances.
“A temporary command structure has been thoroughly considered by all chief officers and is currently in place during Chief Constable Bill Skelly’s absence on annual leave.”
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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