When I took over as Police and Crime Commissioner, I found that our rural communities had been shamefully neglected under Labour.
That has changed. We now have:
- A dedicated Rural Policing Unit.
- Specialist training to call handlers.
- Rural Crime Reduction Events.
- Crime Prevention Measures for rural areas.
- A reduction of over 10% in rural crime year on year.
In 2023 the Rural Team conducted over 1200 personal visits to farms and other rural businesses. Furthermore over £1,026,000 worth of stolen farm equipment was recovered in that year.
I will now build on that success in keeping our rural areas safe by:
- Establishing a comprehensive Rural Crime Strategy focusing on crime prevention as well as policing.
- Working with the National Farmers’ Union, rural businesses, parish councils and Neighbourhood Watch groups to make our rural villages, farms and hamlets safer than ever.
- Calling for guidelines so that local bodies understand what they can expect from the police in rural areas.
- Advocating for a full time administrative staff member within the Rural Policing Team freeing up officer time.
- Making the case for the Rural Policing Team to have exclusive use of a drone and quad bike. .
- Advocate for the current police vehicle tracking process to identify villages that are not regularly visited by the police, and then use Waymarkers to ensure that they are visited on a regular basis.
- Lobby for the maintenance of the Mounted Volunteers Scheme and develop other innovative ways to mobilise our rural communities in the fight against crime
- Recommend the establishment of a team of Special Constables dedicated to policing rural areas, working alongside rural policing teams.
- Call for the iimplementation of the estates strategy to increase the police footprint in rural areas of Leicestershire and Rutland.
- Champion the various Watch schemes – such as Farm Watch, Neighbourhood Watch, Community Speed Watch and Pub Watch – that are active in our rural areas.
- Tirelessly . lobby our national government to keep our rural areas safe. This will include calling for: tougher punishments for livestock worrying, effective implementation of current legislation on equipment theft and for additional powers targeting the theft of agricultural machinery. o-ordinating support in our area for secondary legislation in Agriculture Machinery Theft Bill and working to ensure the effective implementation of the Farm Equipment Theft Act
