"Police might have a personal link to this case, this almost seems to be going beyond the call of duty?"
A few years ago people who used a long-standing naturist beach were suddenly being arrested for indecent exposure. As respectable middle class people they often accepted a police caution rather than have their names splashed across the front pages.
What the police didn't tell them was that the CPS had already said they would not prosecute in those cases. Apparently the sudden drive for the persecution of naturists came from the Chief Constable.
Possibly from the same Christian principles as exhibited by the Chief Constable of Manchester in an apparent persecution of gay men in the 1990s. "God works in mysterious ways. Given my love of God and belief in Him and Jesus Christ, I have to accept that I may well be used by God in this way."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Anderton
Biting the hand that feeds IT
