With Rural Crime Action Week nearly upon us, during September, my office and Dorset Police are putting a strong focus on raising awareness and tackling rural crime.

Dorset is a proudly rural county and from the outset, I wanted to help agricultural and other isolated communities who felt overlooked previously. I am aware some people living and working in our rural areas did not believe they received the same standard of service as those in urban areas.

Dorset Police serve everyone that lives here, and that is why cutting rural crime has been high on my agenda and a key priority of my Police and Crime Plan since taking office in 2021 and why we established County Watch, a one stop online rural resource centre.

We have made significant strides forward in the past three years.

Creating the Dorset Partnership Against Rural Crime (DPARC) brought together relevant agencies that are interested in combatting rural crime whether that be poaching, farm machinery theft, siphoning fuel from tractors, nighthawking or fly tipping. Having organisations with experts in these areas enables us to share knowledge, data and best practices of support for countryside communities. 

Dorset Police’s Rural Crime Team has grown, as has also the number of officers specifically trained to investigate wildlife crime. This is something I am proud of, and the feedback from farmers and other rural stakeholders tells me that a greater police presence is noticed. We can tell this increased investment is paying us all back by better protection of our rural communities. 

There have been a number of high-profile prosecutions against perpetrators who committed sickening acts of cruelty on animals, and against an organised crime group that was stealing lead and materials from church roofs in Dorset.

All these wins are thanks to the dedication of the Rural Crime Team, but also the collaborative and joined up approach that is in place because of DPARC. Additionally, the number of Watch groups in Dorset’s countryside has risen to 24 meaning a larger territory is being covered and protected.

And in 2023, the Force’s Rural Mounted Volunteer programme launched which now has more than 15 vetted and trained horse riders, providing intelligence and reporting evidence of crimes in areas that police cars cannot go. 

The outlook for tackling rural crime is improving, but there is still a long way to go. It is a collective effort and together, we will beat the gangs causing misery and profit from criminality in Dorset’s wonderful countryside.

So I urge you, the public, to keep reporting crimes you witnessed in real time or after the event, because each little piece of information on its own might not seem important, but helps Dorset Police build a bigger picture. Dorset is a safe county but we can continue to drive for it to be the safest, everywhere.