Do the police do enough regarding stolen horses?

[Shilasdair]

I have no experience of this, never having had a horse stolen (thankfully).
But I have read many threads where the police have declined to take action over horse thefts, saying it is a 'civil matter'.
I don't understand why stealing a car is 'criminal' but a horse 'civil'.
Can someone explain this, and other random police behaviour to me?
S

 

[be positive]

I agree with you, it is hard to see why they treat it as a civil matter, especially in the cases of loans that have a so called contract.
The difference with cars seems to be that the car has a registration document that is proof of ownership, a passport is not, there is no way of proving you own a horse it seems to be the passports are not worth anything.
I think that passports need a part that is able to be used as an ownership document but until that is done the police just dont seem to have the power or inclination to do anything.

 

[WoopsiiD]

In answer to your question-NO
Jazz was stolen and moved several times to different parts of the country. It was only by L doing some detective work that she was found. L asked everyone in the last known location if the had seen Jazz. It was a farrier who recalled her and its thanks to that man we have her home.

L hired a horsebox and drove several miles to collect Jazz from the yard. She phoned the local police and asked if they could spare an officer for 30mins just to be present when Jazz was moved. The reply??? Well you have acted like Miss Marple so far you clearly don't need us! L had to pay the outstanding livery bill £300, the horse box and all the phone calls and dead end follow ups. Probaly spent close to 1k for a £20 market pony!

We were talking about it this very morning as there have been suspicious goings on in our area of late. The local horse watch has not been updated since 2009!

 

[YorksG]

Actually the log book only describes you as the registered keeper, it says it is not proof of ownership, so just the same as the horse passport.
One of the problems is that not all police officers know all aspects of the law (how they could I don't know ) If you are not happy with the response you get from the person you report the theft to, then ask to speak to the duty sargeant, if no joy there then ask to speak to the duty inspector. I had to do this recently about a matter at work, a woman was waiting for me with 2 litres of petrol and a claw hammer The day after she returned and when the police attended and hour later, they suggested that I should not use the emergency number the next time she turned up, this has now been resolved after I insisted on speaking to a more senior officer, it really is worth keeping on making a fuss.

 

[pedilia]

I don't think it's that the police don't take it seriously, I think they are struggling with cuts and ver under resourced, no matter how much we love our horses, a stolen one is not going to be top priority for the police.

Having said that, I had mine stolen whilst on loan and sold to a dealer, who sold him on again. The police were fantastic, it went to court and they kept me fully informed the whole way through.

 

[DollyDolls]

I think a distinction needs to be made.

1 / Horses taken out of a field overnight
Vs
2 / Horses being sold / moved on whilst out on loan.


I would say that any Police officer would happily investigate 1, but there may be little to go on in terms of evidence or "lines of enquiry".

The second type of stolen horse, does need some case by case separation.
Whilst some horse owners that loan their horses out go to serious ends to make sure their horse is well cared for and retained by the original person, others are guilty of being extremely naive and / or lazy.

I wouldn't expect any police officer to investigate a case where I had "abandonned" my horse in the care of a stranger I met once and not checked on for a year.
Just as I wouldn't expect them to investigate my car if it were stolen whilst I left the keys in the ignition at a motorway services & ignored it for weeks.

 

[Holly Hocks]

I think a distinction needs to be made.

1 / Horses taken out of a field overnight
Vs
2 / Horses being sold / moved on whilst out on loan.


I would say that any Police officer would happily investigate 1, but there may be little to go on in terms of evidence or "lines of enquiry".

The second type of stolen horse, does need some case by case separation.
Whilst some horse owners that loan their horses out go to serious ends to make sure their horse is well cared for and retained by the original person, others are guilty of being extremely naive and / or lazy.

I wouldn't expect any police officer to investigate a case where I had "abandonned" my horse in the care of a stranger I met once and not checked on for a year.
Just as I wouldn't expect them to investigate my car if it were stolen whilst I left the keys in the ignition at a motorway services & ignored it for weeks.

Agree with above. Although our horses are very special to us, they are considered property in the eyes of the law, so no different than having your purse/car/whatever stolen. It isn't the Polices' fault that they are treated as property, it's the law. Similar to where a horse is hit and killed by a vehicle, the horse is property, not treated as a "life". The law prosecutes the offence, despite the severity of the crime....

 

[soulfull]

I think a distinction needs to be made.

1 / Horses taken out of a field overnight
Vs
2 / Horses being sold / moved on whilst out on loan.


I would say that any Police officer would happily investigate 1, but there may be little to go on in terms of evidence or "lines of enquiry".

The second type of stolen horse, does need some case by case separation.
Whilst some horse owners that loan their horses out go to serious ends to make sure their horse is well cared for and retained by the original person, others are guilty of being extremely naive and / or lazy.

I wouldn't expect any police officer to investigate a case where I had "abandonned" my horse in the care of a stranger I met once and not checked on for a year.
Just as I wouldn't expect them to investigate my car if it were stolen whilst I left the keys in the ignition at a motorway services & ignored it for weeks.

Agree with above. Although our horses are very special to us, they are considered property in the eyes of the law, so no different than having your purse/car/whatever stolen. It isn't the Polices' fault that they are treated as property, it's the law. Similar to where a horse is hit and killed by a vehicle, the horse is property, not treated as a "life". The law prosecutes the offence, despite the severity of the crime....

Echo these

Also just where are they expected to get the time to do all this,. the amount of paper work they have to do nowadays begs belief!!

sorry but it is just not possible to even attempt to do anything about no 2 it is so much more a civil case (unfortunately)

 

[Zarkaz]

I had it happen to me the police said it was civil because a horse is classed as property eg like a house. Luckily I work at solicitors so I got mine sorted. The police said they could only intervene if we disturbed the peace