Police Specials Superintendent hangs up his cuffs
Lincolnshire Police Rural Crime Action Team have said farewell a hard working, volunteer officer who has worked closely with their unit.
Long serving Lincolnshire Police Volunteers and Special Constabulary Superintendent Charles Skiera is hanging up his cuffs.
According to Lincolnshire Police, Charlie joined the ‘Specials’ 24 years ago.
Commenting on social media, the Rural Crime Action Team said: “His passion for the job, (is) second to none. He has given his all to both Lincolnshire Police and the people of Lincolnshire, working for free, volunteering his own time to bolster the full time staff on duty.
“There have been many weeks when he has personally worked more hours than those who he worked alongside. Unpaid, to keep us safe. For his community.”
For many years he worked out of Sleaford alongside both response officers and other ‘Specials’ either crewing another car/van working alongside another officer or pounding the beat in the town centre, keeping the locals safe, keeping drunks in order spilling out of pubs and nightclubs.
He eventually came on board with the Operation Galileo team which targeted rural crime and hare coursing. This small team eventually became RCAT.
They said he would quite often be patrolling alone on winter nights in the countryside searching and dealing with rural criminals.
They added: “He has received much recognition over those many years, but one really notable prosecution only came about because he was on duty to assist one of the team. In September 2017, on patrol with an Op Galileo officer, he personally chased down, detained and arrested two well known hare coursers.”
Another officer was also involved but Charlie got the arrests whilst his paid colleague handled the paperwork.
The case brought about the first ever criminal behaviour and forfeiture orders on hare coursers in Lincolnshire.
They said: “Little did we know at the time that this case would also lead to assist in a far more serious investigation against an Organised Crime Gang in the north of the country being convicted for their part in the distribution of over £100m of drugs.”
Night time patrols also involved targeting criminals poaching, travelling into the county to hunt with dogs for deer, badgers, foxes and hare. Numerous poachers were dealt with, on one occasion it involved observing, at a distance, what turned out to be seven poachers from Yorkshire who chased down and killed a young fallow deer.
He was on duty with two other Specials and a paid officer from RCAT and the four were able to arrest all seven men at the scene.
The driver of one car still had a carving knife, used to kill the deer, under his seat and all were successfully prosecuted for various offences, said the RCAT spokesperson.
Later in his service, Charlie refocussed his time to the dog section, ‘double crewing’ one of the team. Much of the time working nights, he gave much valued support to a single crewed officer helping to keep them safe.
“There are many many more incidents like those above, some far more serious involving some really challenging policing.
“On top of everything else that he was trained for, he was also blue light trained and PSU trained (riot squad – a rarity in the Specials).
“From Lincolnshire Police Rural Crime Action Team we wish to thank you for helping out so much over so many years, for keeping us safe and for just being there, all of the time.”