Dear Police & Crime Commissioner,
Tackling rural crime
Rural crime cost the UK £49.5m in 2022, yet the scale, social impact, and effects of crime in rural areas are underestimated, under-reported and not fully understood.
Theft of large and small machinery, fly-tipping, dog attacks on livestock and hare coursing are the key issues NFU members are experiencing. Recent research amongst the public highlighted that 71% of the public say that rural crime should be treated more seriously by the police.
As my elected Police & Crime Commissioner I am asking you to:
- Ensure priorities for addressing rural crime are detailed in your Police and Crime plan
- Recruit a dedicated rural crime specialist
- Engage regularly with the farming community
- Deliver effective response and investigation of crimes impacting farm businesses
- Work with farm businesses on effective crime prevention strategies
- Develop a strategy to counter the impact of organised crime groups operating in rural areas
- Provide greater rural crime training for officers and control centres
I am concerned that the under representation of rural offences leads to the de-prioritisation of rural policing and would urge this trend to be reversed.
Yours sincerely
