PCC hears how crime impacts Hampshire farmers

Wildlife poaching and anti-social behaviour on the roads and rural paths of Hampshire were high on the agenda as farmers and gamekeepers from the Southwick Estate, near Fareham, met with Police and Crime Commissioner, Donna Jones.

Speeding motorbikes, trail bikes ridden dangerously on paths by youths wearing balaclavas and fly-tipping were also raised as key issues affecting the countryside communities in the county.

Donna Jones has made rural crime one of her top priorities for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary launching the Country Watch Rural Crime Task Force earlier this year, a dedicated unit to tackle the crimes occurring outside of urban areas.

The Commissioner said: “It is so important to have meetings like this, to hear from our rural communities about the issues affecting them.

“I am investing millions of pounds to deal with rural crime issues, with new technology and the introduction of initiatives like the Rural Crime Task Force. Around 75% of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight consists of rural areas, where incidents of poaching, theft of farm equipment and intimidation are unfortunately happening all too often.

“Landowners, famers, gamekeepers and the whole rural community are suffering because of these crimes. I am focussed on Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary taking the fight to the criminals and making our countryside a safer place.

“The Rural Crime Task Force marked a shift to a more intelligence-led, proactive approach to dealing with crime in rural areas.

“As your Police and Crime Commissioner, I will continue to do all I can to protect your way of life. To the criminal gangs operating across our rural communities, I say this – the police are coming after you!”

Inspector Cath MacDonald, who leads the Task Force, was also at the meeting to hear the concerns and offer advice on what the police are doing to combat these issues: “We are aware of how much these issues of anti-social behaviour, poaching and theft cause misery for our countryside communities.

“Since the Rural Crime Task Force launched, we have already seized more than £150,000 of property that has either been stolen or involved in crime, thanks to the intelligence we have gathered and from our proactive approach.

“We’ve now got modern tools to take the fight against rural crime to new levels, including mobile ANPR cameras and drones, but it is also vital that people across our rural areas report all crimes to us. This allows us to build a profile of activity, even from smaller incidents – as these may well be linked to a large-scale organised crime activity.

“We are working alongside Local Bobbies, response teams and the Roads Policing Unit to conduct daily patrols in hotspot areas for rural crime and make the environment a hostile place for criminals.”

Mark Thistlethwayte, owner of the Southwick Estate, said: “The worst types of crimes we face here on the Estate are fly tipping and poaching, both of which have significant consequences for us and our tenants and can cause a lot of distress in the rural community.

“The cost of cleaning up is rising each year, whether that’s securing fields and buildings, it is costly to us as a business. With an early harvest this year, what we’ve seen is poaching starting even earlier, which means we’re on course to have a record number of poaching incidents.

“We were delighted to welcome the PCC and Inspector MacDonald to the Estate. It was good to hear about the proactive approach from police and the reassuring advice given to our tenants and those working on the estate.”

The introduction of an expanded and dedicated rural police unit adds greater ability to track and catch offenders in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight countryside. Police are also reliant on reports and intelligence from the public to gain a clear picture of the offences being committed, the individuals involved, the types of vehicles being used, and the areas being targeted.

To report a rural crime in progress dial 999, if you have information about crime or suspicious activity in your area then #report this to police on 101, or via the report tool at www.hampshire.police.uk

Alternatively, you can anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or www.crimestoppers-uk.org