Statement from Staffordshire Police:
CCTV APPEAL: DO YOU KNOW THIS MAN?
Staffordshire Police’s Rural and Wildlife Crime officers have released a CCTV image of a man they would like to talk to following the discovery of the bodies of two protected birds on Cannock Chase.
The two adult ravens were found at around 11.30am on Sunday 6 May by a passer by. The birds were still warm at the time they were discovered and further examination showed they had been shot.
Anyone who recognises the man in the images or who has any other information is asked to ring 101 quoting incident 298 of 6 May.
Alternatively, for guaranteed anonymity, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
ENDS
Raptor Persecution UK 
6th May?
The Mills of God may grind slowly, but surely we can expect the Police to move faster?
Would it be possible for someone with influence (possibly the RSPB) to ask the reason for the delay? That three months sounds about average for these appeals doesn’t make it acceptable.
Gross delay seems to accompany almost every case of persecution. No one ever produces a reason, apology, excuse or whatever.
The situation in the UK stinks to the heavens like a fish that rots from head to tail.
As an ex-cop and passionate birder, here goes:
1 – Due to central government cuts since 2009, police officer and police staff capacity have decreased and calls for service had their prioritisation adjusted. Staff available to seek out camera locations for a low priority job like this, secure the CCTV and obtain stills are limited and so delays are created.
2 – CCTV images are circulated internally (Staffs) then usually nationally across Forces as a police officer ID is the best and keeps the images in-house. Again, fewer staff produces delays.
3 – After 1 and 2 above are completed, the images are released for wider circulation (and possible alerting of the suspect who can then get rid of evidence etc).
4 – The attrition rate across the police service is about 8k officers per year. Unless the PM’s desire is for 20k cops over and above the current number, recruiting 20k over three years simply makes the Police Service stand still at today’s number, which is 21k lower than 2009.
Don’t expect any improvement in the above soon.
I think the Police should digitally alter the CCTV image as the person in question will now have a grey beard. This is not the age of slide film when a delay could be blamed on the chemist.
It is unbelievable in this day and age of ‘instant’ communication between people and organisations that such a delay has taken place once again in a case of wildlife crime allegedly being perpetrated.
I’m sorry to seem a harsh critic, though I have a close relative in the police and hear about their problems, frequently.
If they can’t go public quicker than three months later, two thoughts occur to me. The first is the effect on those interested, ordinary MoPs feel the crime is of low priority, but so may the criminals. The second is that the limited time of of the Wildlife Officers is spread too thinly, and might be co-ordinated better on fewer cases.