PCC highlights innovation at Home Affairs Committee as means to tackle serious and organised crime

Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones says police forces across the country need to exploit technology in the fight against organised crime gangs in rural communities.

The PCC made the comments as she gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee as part of its inquiry into the impact of serious and organised crime (SOC).

SOC poses a significant and evolving threat to rural communities. Gangs are highly adaptable and highly motivated by money.

Donna Jones said: “Rural communities are disproportionately affected due to their isolated nature. Gangs exploit them for numerous crimes including large-scale thefts of machinery, drug production and storage, gun smuggling, fly-tipping, poaching and human exploitation.

“We are never going to have enough police officers to target this. It’s about working smarter not harder.

“Where policing across the UK has been a bit slow is in exploiting technology in rural communities.

“You can really see the difference in the bigger forces already using it, like Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and it helps that people living in rural communities are much more willing to work with police than those in urban areas.”

The Police and Crime Commissioner detailed how she’s invested in mobile deployable CCTV cameras for landowners and farmers. She also detailed her investment on the country’s first community drone pilot.

Launched last month, it enables trained community volunteers to be deployed by the police control room to provide drone support to live incidents in rural areas – helping make them a much more hostile place for criminals to operate in.

The PCC added: “Partnership working is key. By working with willing communities we should be further exploiting technology to give them the tools they need to make them safer.

“We need to make sure we are adapting alongside the SOC gang model to make sure rural communities are not left vulnerable.”

Since 2021, the PCC has introduced the Rural Crime Taskforce, put Local Bobbies in every rural area, opened front counters and invested in specialised vehicles, dedicated detectives, analysts for developing leads and the crime reporting EyesOn app.

The investment has driven up charge rates but the PCC admitted there’s still a long way to go.

You can watch the Police and Crime Commissioner’s full evidence here.