With every Police Force under greater budgetary pressures, with more & more Rural Police Stations being closed down as a result of these budgetary pressures, Criminals are viewing Rural Crime as a safer target than some of the more traditional City Crimes.
With Rural Police Stations being closed, the Officers on duty are having to cover wider areas during their shift
Working on the Risk & Reward theory, it is now deemed more unlikely to be caught carrying out a crime in a rural location than ever before, with the fewer available Police Officers on duty having to cover an ever wider area during their shift, with more & more rural Police Stations being closed the areas having to be covered are just getting bigger.
The Rewards have not reduced, if anything they have increased now that Fuel, Lead & other commodities have risen sharply in price together with Quad Bikes & Tractors being very desirable.
Rural Crime Prevention
This situation is not going to be reversed for many years, therefore it is now more important than ever before for communities to get together and help each other, Ultra Secure Direct have noticed this is most effective when local Police Offices get involved.
We have witnessed impressive results in two totally different areas in the Country, both called totally different names & both working in a different way, but the common denominators are that both the Police & Rural Community are involved together, and in both cases the dedication from just one or two local officers to drive the project forward was vital.
We have highlighted these two different schemes below just to show how working together with low budgets can make a difference, there may be similar schemes around the Country, but these are two that we have witnessed and listened to feed back from the general public involved.
Stop That Thief Initiative Dorset:
This Initiative was the brain child of two local Police Officers back in 2007 (full story within this link) who wanted to find a way of reducing rising Rural Crime, this initiative called ‘Stop That Thief’ very quickly achieved impressive reductions in Crime for the locals getting involved. The NFU have also been involved & supportive of the program from the early days.
The initiative has been spread out & tested in new regions around Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Herefordshire and others with mixed results, it appears to need the dedication & support of a local Police officer to really make it happen.
Operation Jumbo:
This Initiative started back in November 2009 by the local Police Force covering Selby, North Yorkshire, again the brain child of a local Police Officer wanting to make a difference (full story within this link), one of the main principles involves the locals within this very rural community reporting all & any suspicious vehicles or people, this is allowing the Police to build up a picture of what is going on in the area, and coming down hard on all potential Criminals before they have even had time to cause a problem, these potential Criminals may be active in Burglary, Hare Coursing, Poaching, Horse Trading or any other Rural Crime.
Summary:
Ultra Secure Direct talk to customers every single day, a large percentage of these customers are often from the rural communities & we are constantly hearing them complain about the help they get from their local Police Force. Whether these complaints are always true is obviously up for debate, but we hear it far to often for there to be no substance in many of the cases.
The Police are obviously being overstretched these days, a trend that is likely to get worse long before it starts to get any better, therefore it is a fact of life that communities & individuals have to do more to help themselves, this may be in the form of increasing the Security around their Home & Property, or working together with neighbours to watch out for each other.
It is also worth contacting your local Police Commissioners if you feel your Policing needs improving or modifying, after all that is what they are there for, if they do not know about your problems and another community shouts louder, then any spare resource becoming available is more likely to end up there. Tell them that other Rural Communities appear to get far better Crime Prevention Schemes & Initiatives than you do, let them convince you otherwise.
Ultra Secure Direct specialize in DIY Security products, and give Honest, No Obligation Advice about these products via Telephone, Email, Live Chat or Personal Consultation in our Northampton Offices (click here for contact details).
These are the personal opinions of the Author,being formed by talking to Police Officers from various Forces & many customers from all parts of the UK.
By Mark Walter Google