North Yorkshire Police contact farms to beat crime

In the coming weeks, information packs will be sent to more than 160 rural businesses and 230 farms in an operation being carried out by North Yorkshire Police.

Businesses identified by police officers will be sent a self-assessment questionnaire, details of crime prevention measures and the offer of a visit from a Police Community Support Officer from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team who has been trained in business security.

Isolated and rural areas of the region are known to be frequently targeted by cross-border criminals, who travel from outside North Yorkshire to commit crime.

PC Neil Slater said: “This campaign is all about making sure that we offer the same level of service to rural businesses that those in more urban areas receive.

“Vulnerability is one of our key areas of focus, and many rural premises are vulnerable because of their isolated location - so it’s important that we do everything we can to protect them.

“The challenge of policing a large rural area means that we need to use a variety of tools and channels to keep people and businesses safe. We can offer businesses a crime prevention pack, sent through the post, as well as a free security survey by a trained expert. In addition, we will be promoting dot peen property marking, and encouraging businesses to sign up to the North Yorkshire Community Messaging system.”

Dot peen marking involves a pin being used to indent an object with dots to create a unique number which is entered on to a national database.