Police are using number plate recognition technology to tackle fly tipping, hare coursing and damage to crops.

St Albans and Harpenden Safer Neighbourhood teams are working with colleagues in north Hertfordshire to identify criminals driving into the area and using back roads to make their escape.

As crops begin to be harvested, reports of hare coursing - using greyhounds, whippets or lurchers to catch hares - tend to increase as the fields are cut.

With the harvest season nearly upon us, the number of reported hare coursing incidents tends to increase as the fields start to be cut.

In St Albans last week, officers used a mobile ANPR kit to monitor the A1081 Luton Road and had a stopping point at the junction with The Common, Kinsbourne Green.

In north Herts, ANPR was used on the A505 into Hitchin, with a vehicle based on the outskirts of Hitchin and another patrolling the tracks along Lilley Bottom Road which are often used by criminals to avoid major routes. Another vehicle was based in Kimpton to provide support for the Harpenden officers with their mobile ANPR camera on the Lower Luton Road, in case anything was displaced.

Sergeant Caro added: “We hope this offers some reassurance to our rural communities. Remember, if you see a crime in progress, including fly-tipping, call 999. If you are reporting a crime retrospectively, please call 101.”