I had a great fun night out with the Cops on Saturday. Who wouldn't want to chase poachers about the back roads of Northumberland in a fast car in the dark!

But the main learning for me was in how they made decisions and used the powers available to them 1/7

Early on we stopped a four wheel drive. On board were two men from outside the area, two lurchers and two lamps. They had a distinctly unconvincing story about why they were heading into Rural Northumberland just as it was getting dark.

There were no grounds to arrest them 2/7

So that is out of the window. But the officers had powers to seize anything the men had which they might use in poaching.

They could take their dogs, lamps and car. They decided to take the lamps, but not the dogs or the car.

3/7

On the surface that looks like going a bit soft, why not hammer them? Take everything they can.

Well firstly they were first timers with no serious criminal history. Chancers rather than hardened poachers. But leaving that aside there are serious practical considerations. 4/7

If they seized the dogs then we were stuck there beside the A1 not nicking anyone else until the dog man arrived, and having the car collected could take an hour, which again would be spent by the A1 not nicking anyone.

5/7

And without their lamps they weren't going to be poaching that night anyway There are also budgetary issues, seizing dogs and cars isn't free. So instead of spending a lot of time and money on two chumps it was better to go after some more serious criminals 6/7

What I'm getting at is this. Policing looks quite easy. Catch baddies, throw the book at them, back to the station for tea and medals.

But the reality is messier, there are multiple conflicting interests to be balanced and issues which are not immediately apparent. 7/7