Rural injustice

It is unclear whether the 12 per cent rise in agri-crime across Yorkshire and the North East is allied to a reduction in police manpower or the recession, or a combination of both.

That said, there is little evidence to suggest that the rate of rural crime is slowing down and forces, like North Yorkshire, need to be doing farm more to identify the criminals and help farmers to protect their property.

This will not happen if a farmer’s only contact with the Constabulary is when they telephone a call centre to report a theft and acquire a crime reference number for insurance purposes.

Just because crime levels in rural areas are not comparable to inner city communities does not mean that such incidents should be treated any less seriously. Quite the opposite. The key to all policing is the quality of the partnership between officers and the communities that they serve.