Lifeboat crew marks milestone Police focus on countryside & prioritising rural crime
Sussex Police has reassured residents in rural areas of the county that officers are focused on ‘making people feel safe’.
Following a dedicated campaign of education, engagement and enforcement activity, the police force said rural crime is ‘a priority’.
A spokesperson added: “Our focus is around making people feel safe and secure in countryside communities, and holding offenders to account.”
Officers teamed up with partners and neighbouring forces as part of Rural Crime Week – which ran from Monday, February 26 to Friday, March 1.
Assistant Chief Constable Howard Hodges, the force lead for Rural Crime, said: “Rural crime is really important. It’s particularly important for those who live and work in rural communities, and it can have a huge impact both economically and financially. But there’s also that feeling of isolation and vulnerability, and that’s why we need to ensure people in the countryside are not only safe, but also feel safe.
“It’s crucial that we do everything we can to make our local area hostile to crime, but also to provide that visibility and reassurance, and investigate crime efficiently and hold people to account where it does occur.”
Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Kent, and Thames Valley police forces set up the South East Partnership Against Rural Crime (SEPARC) which was officially launched to coincide with Rural Crime Week.
ACC Hodges said: “The South East Partnership Against Rural Crime is exactly what it says on the tin – it’s about partners and agencies working together to make sure the South East region is a place that’s hostile for those who might want to come and commit crime in our area. It’s also about reassurance to the local communities and making sure we’re all working together to prioritise rural crime.”
Sussex Police revealed what the force’s rural crime team got up to during the week of action. A spokesperson said: “[They] visited premises to check on the welfare of endangered species; carried out property marking at a number of heritage sites across the county; conducted vehicle stops in relation to theft, waste carrying and modern slavery offences on the A23; and engaged with the public around livestock worrying on Ashdown Forest, among other things.
"While the campaign was focused around a period of intensified activity, the force’s rural crime team continue to prevent, detect and respond to incidents all year round.”
Derek Pratt, deputy chairman of Sussex Neighbourhood Watch, said it is ‘very important that people stay vigilant’ in the countryside because ‘you never know what you’re going to come across. People think of neighbourhood watch as being a town-based organisation, where people look after their own street. But the reality is that people who live in towns come out into the countryside.
"So when they come into the countryside, we are hoping they have their ears and eyes all open, working, and then if they see something that perhaps needs reporting, then they get on to the police and report it.”
Visit www.sussex.police. uk/advice/advice-and-information/rc/rural-crime/