Police ask farmers to log rural crimes
Police in North Yorkshire are stepping up their fight against rural crime by asking farmers to keep a log of suspicious activity.
Officers in Richmondshire will be issuing Country Watch reporting forms to residents at upcoming police community events to allow them to note suspicious incidents occurring in rural areas.
The forms will allow locals to provide police with as much detail as possible about people and vehicles behaving suspiciously, which will assist officers investigating rural crime.
PCSO Gavin Dobson of Richmond Safer Neighbourhood Team said: “The forms are designed to help members of the community to report incidents to the police in as much detail as possible.
“Residents in our rural communities already provide some extremely useful information to the police about incidents in their areas and this form can only help to make the information we receive even better.”
Police in the neighbouring counties of Lincolnshire, Humberside and Cumbria say Country and Farm Watch schemes have contributed to a significant drop in a range of crimes such as poaching and wildlife, metal and fuel theft.
Farmers Weekly on the beat with rural police
Report farm crime on our Crime Register