Rural crime fight is national priority – The Yorkshire Post says

They also appear undeterred by CCTV and other measures being put in place by many farmers; some gangs are sneaking in on e-scooters to sneak onto land late at night to steal expensive property.

And while many rural landowners have signed up to county Farm Watch schemes to share intelligence and information, they’re invariably having to react to crimes that have already been committed.

As such, the research revealed by NFU Mutual is another example of the extent to which the London Government neglects the needs of rural residents.

If items as valuable as farm machinery were being stolen with such frequency in urban areas, there would be a clamour for policy-makers, and police forces, to take affirmative action.

Yet why should rural residents be treated like second class citizens and made to feel guilty for contacting the police to report thefts in order to obtain a crime number for insurance purposes?

Last week, Boris Johnson launched the Government’s Beating Crime Plan with a vague promise to assign a dedicated officer to every community.

However it is paramount that this also applies to rural areas – even urban forces like West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire cover large swathes of countryside. Ministers also need to reappraise police numbers in those rural communities whose remoteness is now a magnet for criminals and ‘county lines’ drugs gangs. As the PM said himself: “Every victim matters.”

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