IN THE 16 months I’ve been the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight I have met with landowners, farmers, game keepers and people living and working in rural communities. The one single message you have all impressed upon me is your need for more rural police officers, more visibility of the police and a greater effort in responding to and detecting crimes.

Having assessed the volume of crime and the impact on many business and local people in rural areas, I’ve taken steps to start to redress the balance.

Driving down crime in rural areas is one of the priorities I have set the Chief Constable in my Police and Crime Plan. I have committed to recruiting 102 additional police officers above the funding for new officers given to us by the Home Office. That means recruiting 600 more police offices; 500 of them are already in post with the remainder starting by the 31st March 2023. I’m working on plans to bring back  ‘area cars’ and ensure rural communities have a PCSO or police officer they can get to know who will understand the local area and feedback information.

Throughout the last year I have invested in technology such as drones to assist your Country Watch teams to make it easier for them to detect and prevent crimes from happening. Plant theft, poaching, hare-coursing, trespassing and fly-tipping costs farmers and land owners thousands of pounds per year. We know these crimes affect wider communities and are often linked to serious and organised crime.  That’s why I’ve provided £38,400 for a rural crime analyst. The analyst is working  with the rural police team to gather intelligence and to analyse crime trends to better understand the threat to communities enabling the force to put police resources in the right place at the right time.

I’ve funded the licenses for the Hampshire Rural Crime Partnership reporting system; a mobile phone based app called ‘DISC’. The app makes it easier for those in rural communities to report crime. The system allows people to report crime issues & incidents and share intelligence.

Ensuring the police have the best equipment possible to do their job is also a huge part of how I plan to increase police response times in rural locations.

I have signed off £80,000 for the Roads Policing Unit for six bikes, three off-road bikes and three unmarked dirt bikes, giving officers the ability to pursue criminals on land that a car just can’t access. These bikes will be used all over Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight for targeted operations, including combatting ASB, speeding, theft and robberies.

I know that with the cost of living increasing, there is a real concern that crime will go up. That’s why I am committed to ensuring rural communities get the service from the police they deserve, especially in uncertain times. By increasing the number of police officers across the two counties, investing in technology and increasing the visibility of the rural policing teams, we will make rural communities safer.