Northumbria Police’s dedicated rural policing team continue to crack down thanks to funding

The team tasked with preventing and tackling rural acquisitive crime, wildlife and poaching offences was formed in June 2020, and has already made great efforts in protecting rural communities.

The team have recovered more than £1 million worth of stolen agricultural equipment and efforts have helped cut poaching offences by nearly 50% in the past two and a half years.

As a result, the force has become the first in the country to be awarded Safer Streets funding – specifically to fight rural crime and protect the North East’s most isolated communities.

The funding will be used to develop a range of rural crime operations that will be boosted by fresh cutting-edge technology including thermal imaging and number plate recognition.

To get the project off the ground, the team has launched Northumberland Partnership Against Rural Crime (NPARC), meaning the force is working with Northumberland County Council, Northumberland National Park, Mountain Rescue, Forestry England and Northumberland Fire & Rescue Service.

Inspector Garry Neill, of Northumbria Police, said: “Protecting our most remote communities is a priority for us and through NPARC we believe we can make a significant impact in our ongoing fight against rural crime.

“We are passionate about tackling and preventing rural crime, and through NPARC, we have big plans in the pipeline to hopefully continue the excellent progress made over the last couple of years.

“That will include new technology to improve evidence gathering in order to identify those offenders looking to prey on our rural communities, as well as share intelligence more effectively with all our countryside colleagues to tighten the net around suspects.

“We are grateful to all the partners who bring their expertise to the partnership and look forward to working with each of them over the coming years.

“We run continue to run dedicated operations throughout the year such as Operation Checkpoint which always gets results, and this funding will allow us to introduce innovative new tactics to continue to make a positive difference.

“We are really excited about NPARC and what lies ahead, and as ever, we will continue to be superbly supported by our outstanding Rural Crime Volunteers whose contribution is invaluable. By all working together, we can continue to protect our rural communities and bring offenders to justice.”

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuiness added: “I want to make sure our rural communities never feel overlooked and know that we are coming together to make sure we are doing as much as we can to fight and prevent crime in the more remote parts of our region.

"There have been some great results from the rural policing team in recent months and it’s a perfect time to build on that success and explore new ways we can work together and that’s what the new NPARC project is setting out to do.

"I look forward to seeing what can be achieved together in the year ahead.”