Three Donkeys killed in New Forest

[Sandstone1]

Saw on facebook that three donkeys hit and killed by a van in new forest, apparently Police not investigating. How could you hit 3 if not speeding!

 

[Chinchilla]

I saw that, absolutely disgusting behaviour from the van driver.
Rest in peace darling donks.

 

[rextherobber]

So sad, so unnecessary - and why on earth are the Police not investigating ?!

 

[Muddywellies]

So sad, so unnecessary - and why on earth are the Police not investigating ?!

As sad as it is, our wonderful police force can only be stretched so far.

 

[chocolategirl]

As sad as it is, our wonderful police force can only be stretched so far.

Stretched my a**e!? you see evidence on a daily basis of the absolute opposite every time you read a newspaper or watch the news! This should not go ignored, what if it were a child? If something the size of a donkey can be hit so easily, maybe this person isn’t fit to be on the road!?

 

[Muddywellies]

Stretched my a**e!? you see evidence on a daily basis of the absolute opposite every time you read a newspaper or watch the news! This should not go ignored, what if it were a child? If something the size of a donkey can be hit so easily, maybe this person isn’t fit to be on the road!?

Why are you taking as gospel what you read? Do you work for the police force and qualified to comment? I'm in a good position to comment and can confirm, they are stretched. Finishing work 'on time' is unheard of. Even moreso with the current situation. The police simply cannot spend time investigating every incident.

 

[Sandstone1]

I would have thought that someone driving so badly that they hit and killed 3 large animals was worth investigating.

 

[Muddywellies]

I would have thought that someone driving so badly that they hit and killed 3 large animals was worth investigating.

Indeed, in an ideal world.
Husband just walked in from work (its midnight) with stories of tonight's shift. As I said earlier, it's impossible to investigate absolutely everything. As it is, police officers work way more than their contracted hours. If it was three people, of course it would be an entirely different matter.

 

[PurBee]

Sad to hear.
The police were involved, not taking it as a criminal case.

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18940450.three-donkeys-die-crash-roger-penny-way/


Yet, same area, police catch 46 speeding vehicles within the hour days before the donkey crash, so with this info large ‘speed camera’ signs could have been installed along the stretch to have forced people to slow down and could have prevented the collision with the donkeys....so its even sadder, because they knew just 2 days before people were really speeding along there:
https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/n...-police-record-46-speeding-drivers-just-hour/

 

[PurBee]

...still on that news site and see this:

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/n...jailed-causing-death-careless-driving/?ref=ar

So when you have a 20yr old driving recklessly causing a horrific collision that killed an elderly driver get 6 months prison sentence, what chance is there of prosecution for livestock being killed on the roads by speeders?

It’s not the police fault for this crime, its who ever committed the crime really. In these times when people are so cautiois about covid and will happily follow precautions, sense leaves them regarding caution for just about anything else and happily speed in vehicles ?‍?‍

 

[meleeka]

I’m just can’t get my head around why there are no speed cameras along that road. The amount of animals dying there is just awful and so unecessary.

I do appreciate that the police are stretched, but when you know there’s a road that is routinely used for speeding, it just seems very short sighted to wait for a fatality of a person. There’a no crime prevention anymore which is why idiots do it.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

I echo Muddywellies’ sentiments re police being crazy stretched. I would think that crashing into 3 donkeys would cause some serious damage to a vehicle and potentially cause a driver fatality, for which reason alone there should be speed cameras.

 

[rascal]

Idiot driver needs to learn to drive.

 

[doodle]

Stretched my a**e!? you see evidence on a daily basis of the absolute opposite every time you read a newspaper or watch the news! This should not go ignored, what if it were a child? If something the size of a donkey can be hit so easily, maybe this person isn’t fit to be on the road!?

Incredibly offensive. I have 2 friends who are police officers. They very rarely finish on time. Quite often several hours after their finish time. They see horrific things. One dealt with a cyclist hit by an HGV and then immediately after was first on scene to a guy that had stepped in front of a train.

They are assaulted regularly. One had her wrist broken and shortly after was spat at in the eye, her eyeball was scratched. The other was called to a house where there was a fear for 2 kids. Woman opened door above her, blood all over the walls who launched onto her and threw her about until she was knocked out.

They were doing their job and that is the day to day routine.

 

[meleeka]

Incredibly offensive. I have 2 friends who are police officers. They very rarely finish on time. Quite often several hours after their finish time. They see horrific things. One dealt with a cyclist hit by an HGV and then immediately after was first on scene to a guy that had stepped in front of a train.

They are assaulted regularly. One had her wrist broken and shortly after was spat at in the eye, her eyeball was scratched. The other was called to a house where there was a fear for 2 kids. Woman opened door above her, blood all over the walls who launched onto her and threw her about until she was knocked out.

They were doing their job and that is the day to day routine.

This reminds me of the recent vet thread. Why anyone would want to be in the police force is beyond me. They join with all good intentions, but the people in charge just won’t give them the tools to do their jobs properly. They are then abused by the public for their failings when it’s really not their fault

 

[Sandstone1]

Incredibly offensive. I have 2 friends who are police officers. They very rarely finish on time. Quite often several hours after their finish time. They see horrific things. One dealt with a cyclist hit by an HGV and then immediately after was first on scene to a guy that had stepped in front of a train.

They are assaulted regularly. One had her wrist broken and shortly after was spat at in the eye, her eyeball was scratched. The other was called to a house where there was a fear for 2 kids. Woman opened door above her, blood all over the walls who launched onto her and threw her about until she was knocked out.

They were doing their job and that is the day to day routine.

No one is saying its a easy job but not to even investigate a accident like this is not really on, wonder how differently people would feel if it were their animals killed or had riders been involved. I guess if you join the police you would expect to be called out to incidents like the above.

 

[doodle]

I agree it’s terrible they haven’t investigated. They should have I totally agree.

I was replying to the “stretched my a***” comment. Meaning that they sit about doing nothing. They most certainly do not sit doing nothing!!

 

[Muddywellies]

No one is saying its a easy job but not to even investigate a accident like this is not really on, wonder how differently people would feel if it were their animals killed or had riders been involved. I guess if you join the police you would expect to be called out to incidents like the above.

As already mentioned, lack of resource. Absolutely, if riders had been involved it would have been an entirely different matter. Due to dealing with incidents outlined in a previous comment, they simply do not have time to investigate everything. Unless people think police officers should never get home and have any sort of life outside of work? Or maybe the police could indeed spend months investigating the incident with the donkeys, but then ignore other very serious offences?

 

[Sandstone1]

As already mentioned, lack of resource. Absolutely, if riders had been involved it would have been an entirely different matter. Due to dealing with incidents outlined in a previous comment, they simply do not have time to investigate everything. Unless people think police officers should never get home and have any sort of life outside of work? Or maybe the police could indeed spend months investigating the incident with the donkeys, but then ignore other very serious offences?

If people are allowed to get away with driving like that its only a matter of time before its people being killed and not animals, it can only have been chance that it was a herd of donkeys killed and not a group of walkers or cyclists or riders. The driver was either drunk or driving dangerously. The laws the law. That driver will very likely go on to kill someone if not stopped.

 

[Widgeon]

As already mentioned, lack of resource. Absolutely, if riders had been involved it would have been an entirely different matter. Due to dealing with incidents outlined in a previous comment, they simply do not have time to investigate everything. Unless people think police officers should never get home and have any sort of life outside of work? Or maybe the police could indeed spend months investigating the incident with the donkeys, but then ignore other very serious offences?

Apart from one comment, I'm not sure anyone is accusing individual officers of anything here - after all surely it's not down to an individual to decide whether to investigate something like this? I think it's more that people (me included) feel that in an ideal world this sort of thing should be prevented, and if not prevented, at least investigated once it's happened. Obviously for that to be possible the police (i.e. actual officers on the ground) would have to be better funded and supported. Which would be nice but I can't see it happening any time soon.

 

[meleeka]

Apart from one comment, I'm not sure anyone is accusing individual officers of anything here - after all surely it's not down to an individual to decide whether to investigate something like this? I think it's more that people (me included) feel that in an ideal world this sort of thing should be prevented, and if not prevented, at least investigated once it's happened. Obviously for that to be possible the police (i.e. actual officers on the ground) would have to be better funded and supported. Which would be nice but I can't see it happening any time soon.

A policemen informed someone I know that they don’t have the resources to investigate crime anymore. If the evidence is there they’ll obviously use it, but they don’t have time to go looking for it. This was after her partner was beaten unconscious! It makes me very sad to think there is no fear of breaking the law anymore because people know they won’t get caught.

 

[Annagain]

A policemen informed someone I know that they don’t have the resources to investigate crime anymore. If the evidence is there they’ll obviously use it, but they don’t have time to go looking for it. This was after her partner was beaten unconscious! It makes me very sad to think there is no fear of breaking the law anymore because people know they won’t get caught.

This is absolutely not the case, not in my part of the world anyway. Being beaten unconscious would be taken very seriously round here - I know because my husband would be one of the people investigating.

The difficulty with the case of the donkeys is that, without any witnesses, it would be very difficult to prove any criminal behaviour. The Road Traffic Act requires you to report hitting dogs, horses, cattle, pigs, goats, sheep and donkeys/mules within 24 hours. If the driver reported it within 24 hrs, no offence has taken place. If he/she didn't report it and is found, he/she could be prosecuted for that, because that offence has definitely happened . What can't be proven is that the driver was speeding, driving dangerously or without due care. He/she could say the donkeys, in a state of panic for some reason, suddenly ran across the road in front him/her and he/she couldn't avoid them. I'm not saying that is what happened, just that it's impossible to prove otherwise in this case, given all they have to go on is three dead donkeys. It could take weeks or months of police work to find the driver and the most that will happen to him/her will be points on his/her licence for failing to report hitting an animal. That's not a proportionate use of resources. I'm sure everybody would rather they work towards a conviction for a serious assault (an example based on the above) than points on a driver's licence.

 

[Littlewills]

A policemen informed someone I know that they don’t have the resources to investigate crime anymore. If the evidence is there they’ll obviously use it, but they don’t have time to go looking for it. This was after her partner was beaten unconscious! It makes me very sad to think there is no fear of breaking the law anymore because people know they won’t get caught.

I was told the same. They dont come out for burglaries or car theft in my area now. They just issue a crime number, so I'd imagine, as sad as it is, donkeys being killed just isn't a priority.

 

[Annagain]

I was told the same. They dont come out for burglaries or car theft in my area now. They just issue a crime number, so I'd imagine, as sad as it is, donkeys being killed just isn't a priority.

It's no so much about certain crimes being a priority it's more that (with less serious offences) they have to be realistic about the chances of a conviction. They have to weigh up the chances of finding the culprit, being able to gather enough evidence to convict that person and the punishment being proportionate to the amount of work they have to do. A good chance of DNA evidence (easy to identify someone and almost irrefutable evidence) would make them more likely to investigate, for example. As I said above, even if they could find the driver there's no evidence of criminality in terms of the driving. The only evidence (possibly) of a crime is the non-reporting (if that is the case) and the work to investigate that would far outweigh the benefit derived from a prosecution.

 

[chocolategirl]

Incredibly offensive. I have 2 friends who are police officers. They very rarely finish on time. Quite often several hours after their finish time. They see horrific things. One dealt with a cyclist hit by an HGV and then immediately after was first on scene to a guy that had stepped in front of a train.

They are assaulted regularly. One had her wrist broken and shortly after was spat at in the eye, her eyeball was scratched. The other was called to a house where there was a fear for 2 kids. Woman opened door above her, blood all over the walls who launched onto her and threw her about until she was knocked out.

They were doing their job and that is the day to day routine.

Then you’re easily offended IMO? I don’t know which PF your friends are from, I’m in Cheshire and due to the nature of our business, we have quite a lot of dealings with the emergency services, and I can tell you categorically, if they’re ‘stretched’, they show no sign of it! Just because it was ‘only an animal’ that was killed, I still maintain it needs investigation because next time, and trust me there’ll be a next time, it could be a child?

 

[doodle]

I have said of course it should have been investigated!

Will have to agree to disagree about how busy they are.

 

[Annagain]

Then you’re easily offended IMO? I don’t know which PF your friends are from, I’m in Cheshire and due to the nature of our business, we have quite a lot of dealings with the emergency services, and I can tell you categorically, if they’re ‘stretched’, they show no sign of it! Just because it was ‘only an animal’ that was killed, I still maintain it needs investigation because next time, and trust me there’ll be a next time, it could be a child?

The driver reported it to the police so has committed no crime in that sense. The police attended. Based on their assessment of the scene and speaking to the driver, they decided that no criminality occurred. What do you propose they investigate, CG and how?

 

[meleeka]

It's no so much about certain crimes being a priority it's more that (with less serious offences) they have to be realistic about the chances of a conviction. They have to weigh up the chances of finding the culprit, being able to gather enough evidence to convict that person and the punishment being proportionate to the amount of work they have to do. A good chance of DNA evidence (easy to identify someone and almost irrefutable evidence) would make them more likely to investigate, for example. As I said above, even if they could find the driver there's no evidence of criminality in terms of the driving. The only evidence (possibly) of a crime is the non-reporting (if that is the case) and the work to investigate that would far outweigh the benefit derived from a prosecution.

The trouble is, people that are likely to commit these crimes also know this. I don’t know that these sort of crimes have increased in recent years, but I imagine so for this reason.
A company I know had cctv and clear finger and footprints are were told they could come and get the prints in a fortnight as they just didn’t have the equipment or personnel available until then. As they were still trying to run a business, they couldn’t preserve the scene until then. Somebody got away with a high value vehicle when the evidence was there. It might have been a less serious crime in the grand scale of things, but it would have been an organised gang who probably had links to serious crime.

 

[Annagain]

The trouble is, people that are likely to commit these crimes also know this. I don’t know that these sort of crimes have increased in recent years, but I imagine so for this reason.
A company I know had cctv and clear finger and footprints are were told they could come and get the prints in a fortnight as they just didn’t have the equipment or personnel available until then. As they were still trying to run a business, they couldn’t preserve the scene until then. Somebody got away with a high value vehicle when the evidence was there. It might have been a less serious crime in the grand scale of things, but it would have been an organised gang who probably had links to serious crime.

I get that and am very surprised that happened. I know in my area, good evidence like that would be seized upon very quickly unless there's a really major and widespread crime scene that requires urgent investigation (a murder, for example) SOC investigation is one thing my local force is investing in (they even have a partnership with a local uni for forensic science courses) as the chances of a decent result from it are good, especially as you say, if there could be a link to organised crime - you may not hear back from them straight away as they may know who it is but not want to jeopardise a bigger investigation but they'd still seize evidence. It's things like car crime with no cctv or DNA or shoplifting that are unlikely to be followed up.

 

[doodle]

Another time she had to stand outside a house on guard for 8 hours. They were so quiet and sat around doing nothing, that there was no one to take over to even let her go for a pee.