Farm union boss urges chief constables to form teams

MINETTE BATTERS: She said a joined-up approach was critical.

MINETTE BATTERS, the president of the National Farmers’ Union, will today urge chief constables to ensure farms and rural communities do not become a “soft target” for criminals.

In an address to the National Police Chiefs Council at a meeting in York, the union leader will say that a consistent and coordinated approach to rural crime is needed to tackle the issue.

Speaking to all the chief constables in the country at the summit, Mrs Batters will impress

upon them the NFU’s desire to see dedicated rural police teams – like the one that operates in North Yorkshire – established by every police force.

The National Rural Crime Network launches its National Rural Crime Survey today, the results of which will help inform the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Rural Affairs National Strategy for 2018-2021, which is due to be launched later this year.

In the three years since the last survey in 2015, some 13 forces in

England and Wales set up dedicated rural crime teams.

Mrs Batters said: “All manner of rural crimes, whether it is hare coursing, fly-tipping or theft, severely impact farm businesses and rural communities.

“Not only does it have economic consequences but these criminals also bring threats, violence and intimidation to the countryside.

“It is crucial that there is a joined-up approach to tackle this issue and that is why the NFU is

the leading farming organisation representing its members in the fight against rural crime.

“Engaging with police chiefs, in particular the National Wildlife Crime Unit, is a prime example of this work and making those at the front line aware of the real cost of crime to farm businesses is essential.”

Mrs Batters added that it had been almost a year since the NFU’s Combating Rural Crime report laid out its requests of the Government but there had

been no “concrete action” taken.

“It is absolutely vital that this changes to protect our countryside from being a soft target for criminals,” she said.

The NFU has called for a crossdepartmental taskforce to co-ordinate a consistent approach to rural crime, but the Home Office responded by saying police and crime commissioners have the power at a local level to deploy resources in response to the problem.