Andrew Vine: Government neglecting rising tide of rural crime hitting Yorkshire

I’ve been walking the Yorkshire coast for the past 30-odd years, and they never used to keep such a close eye on those tramping the trail. It’s not that they are unfriendly, far from it, always exchanging a “good morning” and a chat about the weather.

But for all that, they keep an eye out, weighing up who’s about, seeking to distinguish between the genuine walkers, there for the most innocent of reasons, and those who may not be.

Something else has changed over the years as well. Farm gates that once stood open are now padlocked, and the doors of buildings kept closed so that passers-by can’t see what machinery is inside.

It’s obvious why. Bitter experience has taught the people who live and work in this glorious landscape that its remoteness is its greatest vulnerability.

When we think about crime, the instinct of most people is that it is principally an urban problem. That is where people are assaulted, properties broken into and vehicles stolen.

Certainly it’s true that towns and cities record the greatest volume of crime, but it is a growing problem for the countryside, and that’s why those whose properties lie close to a coastal footpath pause for a moment or two these days and look over who is passing by. Just how much of a problem crime has become was shown by figures from insurers NFU Mutual last year, which revealed a 20 per cent increase in claims as a result over the preceding 12 months.

That is a worryingly large jump. If crime in Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, York or Hull were to show such an increase in the course of a year, there would be an outcry.

Questions would be asked in the House of Commons and the pressure on police and crime commissioners, and the chief constables who report to them, to address it as a matter of urgency would be intense.

But where’s the outcry over crime in the countryside? There isn’t one.

If not a hidden issue – certainly not to those who are its victims – rural crime is a neglected one, at least on the part of the Government.

Like so much else concerning the countryside, out of sight is out of mind when it comes to funding and policy priorities. The task forces so beloved of governments of all persuasions wishing to look as if they are doing something have long been notable by their absence when it comes to rural issues.

A farm overlooking the sea where valuable machinery has been stolen doesn’t feature in most Ministers’ thinking, any more than a cottage targeted by burglars in the remoter parts of the Dales, the North York Moors, the Wolds or the plains of Holderness.

That needs to change. The people of rural Yorkshire are not second-class citizens compared to their urban counterparts, and deserve the same level of resources devoted to tackling crime, not least the growing drugs problem that is seeping out of the cities.

Policing rural areas is difficult. Manpower is more thinly spread than in towns and cities, response times are greater because of the distances involved, and routine patrols are less likely to encounter suspicious behaviour.

Crime prevention is equally problematic. The isolated locations of many farms, and the difficulty of securing large areas of land make them a prime target for criminals who gamble that there is less chance of being caught than in a built-up area. Gangs which operate across county lines also know that they can be a long way from the scene of a crime by the time it is discovered.

All of which point towards the need for the Government to both beef up policing in rural areas and put money into intelligence operations to identify those who prey on remote communities.

And those communities have something to learn from towns and cities, where the successful detection of crime has been boosted by widespread CCTV coverage.

It may an unpalatable thought to have villages festooned with cameras, or farmers, who already face more than enough in costs, having to shell out on installing surveillance systems, but 
if it reduces crime it will be money well spent in the long term.

After all, it is only an extension of keeping an eye on strangers passing by on footpaths.

But that doesn’t diminish the clear responsibility of the Government to recognise rural crime for the menace that it is.

The funding formula for police forces covering rural areas is unfair and needs reform. The time has arrived for the Government to listen to victims of crime, and the police who do their best to combat it, and in partnership with both draw up a coherent and properly-resourced strategy for a crackdown.