Fearful farmers ‘fed up with the police’
More rural crimes going unreported, says survey
SUBSTANDARD COUNTRYSIDE policing is deterring more and more rural businesses from reporting crime despite its growing financial impact and the enormous emotional strain it causes, a new report published today reveals.
Rural communities are “living on the edge”, in fear of crime, fed up with the police and feeling vulnerable, with farmers feeling singled out as targets, the National Rural Crime Network said.
More than 20,000 people across England and Wales responded to the network’s national rural crime survey earlier this year and 69 per cent of farmers and rural business owners said they had been a victim of crime in the past 12 months.
Since the last survey in 2015, perceptions of rural policing have worsened and ailing confidence in the police means the number of crimes going unreported has risen by a third among rural residents and two thirds by businesses.
Just 27 per cent said the police were doing a good job, 11 per cent less than in 2015 and in the same period the average cost of crime to a rural business spiked by 13 per cent to £4,800.
The Home Office insisted that police spending is increasing but Julia Mulligan, chair of the National Rural Crime Network, said funding is being sucked from the countryside as police forces focus on urban priorities.
Mrs Mulligan, who is also police and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire where the force runs a dedicated rural taskforce, said the network’s report should serve as a wake-up call to chief constables and the Government who need to shake off a preconception that rural communities are safe, prosperous places.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, she said: “We have to try to challenge the preconception that the countryside is perfectly safe, that it’s a place of pretty cottages with roses round the doorways.
“There are real challenges in the countryside that mustn’t be ignored.”
She added: “Crime is up. Anger is up. Frustration is up. Trust is down. With 10.3m people living in rural areas, these are trends we can no longer ignore.”
And rural communities should not have to tolerate “substandard” services just because of where they live, she added.
“Despite the passionate and professional police officers working incredibly hard day in, day out, them and the communities they serve are being let down because priorities lie elsewhere,” Mrs Mulligan said.
“It is incumbent on policing, partners and on Government and us all to listen, and to act.”
The network’s report makes ten recommendations, including the need for chief constables to change rural policing and for there to be a better understanding of rural crime and its impact.
Other calls are for a greater focus on farmers and specific rural businesses, for justice to be seen to be done by rural victims and for rural crime reporting to become easier.
LIVING IN the beautiful Yorkshire countryside has many advantages but life is far from the simple rural idyll of popular imagination – particularly when it comes to the issue of crime.
Just like the residents of cities and towns across the country, many people living in rural communities are victims of crime all too frequently.
A new survey by the National Rural Crime Network has highlighted the extent of the problem with ailing confidence in the police resulting in the number of crimes going unreported rising by a third among rural residents and two thirds by businesses since 2015.
Farmers are feeling particularly singled out as targets for criminals, while more widely, only 27 per cent of those surveyed said they believe the police are doing a good job – a fall of 11 per cent on the figure three years ago. While the Home Office insists police spending is increasing, Julia Mulligan, police and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire and chairman of the National Rural Crime Network, says there is growing anger about “substandard” and underfunded services.
There clearly needs to be a better understanding that rural communities are not simple safe, prosperous places that require little police attention and funding.
Having the right support and systems in place will allow hard-working frontline officers to deliver what is undoubtedly the most effective way of ensuring rural victims feel they will be taken seriously and that it is worth their while reporting crimes against them – bringing offenders to justice.