Helping protect rural communities

Earlier this month Cheshire Police held a week of action focussing on rural and wildlife crime.

The week, which ran from 6 – 13 October, saw Cheshire’s new dedicated rural crime team taking part in a number of initiatives tackling issues that have blighted the rural community.

 Monday night saw the team launch ‘Operation Crossbow’ with members of the Knutsford and Northwich rural and farming communities joining officers on the ground as extra eyes and ears with a radio that linked them directly to the patrols, enabling them to contact officers with any suspicion.

 On Tuesday the team deployed with the Enforcement Officers from Cheshire East to target fly tipping and those operating without a waste carriers licence. Named Operation East, it was centred around the rural areas of Nantwich down to the border with West Mercia.

Fly tipping costs land owners and councils millions of pounds per year and can pollute the waterways and fields that our food comes from.

Wednesday saw more than 20 police vehicles with staff from Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire. The joint operation, Operation Sentry, saw the three police services soften their shared borders in order to tackle rural and wildlife crime. The officers worked off a shared channel on their radios enabling officers from the three counties to work together.

On Friday, team members joined North Wales’ Rural Crime Team, on a joint operation on the border which saw officers visiting farms along the border offering advice on security.

On Saturday, the Rural Crime Team headed into the White Peak area of the Peak District National park to tackle anti-social use of off road vehicles on the green lanes and trails through the area. Joined by two officers on off-road motorcycles, the team spoke to riders, encouraging them to use trails lawfully and responsibly.

To round the week off, the team worked on the River Dee, with the council’s River Patrol, the Environment Agency and the Volunteer Bailiff Service of The Angling Trust looking at crime in and around the river – from Cheshire’s border with Wales into the heart of Chester.

 Chief Inspector Simon Meegan, the force’s rural crime lead, said: “The week of action was a really positive way to demonstrate the kind of work that the Rural Crime Team can achieve by being dedicated to tackling rural and wildlife crime. We want our rural communities to have the confidence that we are working hard to protect them. We’re not just here for our towns and cities, protecting people from rural and wildlife crime is also extremely important to us and the week of action allowed the team to showcase the work they can do.”

 “Working with our partners and neighbouring forces in joint operations and sharing of intelligence is a fantastic way of ensuring that criminals don’t take advantage of our rural areas by travelling through counties to commit crime. Rural crime can have an impact on people’s livelihoods and the dedicated rural crime team will take action on those who think they can exploit our rural communities. The team will continue to work with our rural communities to protect them from crime.”

Cheshire has a team of officers, PCSOs and volunteers dedicated to tackling rural and wildlife crime. The team is made up of a Sergeant, a Detective Constable, six police officers, three PCSOs and volunteers. It is also being supported by members of the Special Constabulary.

They provide the force a specialist capability in investigating rural and wildlife crime, with a particular focus on offences that relate to farms and agriculture, wildlife, the environment, heritage sites and public protection issues within rural communities.

The team also focus on identifying domestic abuse and hidden harm offences, such as modern slavery in the rural community.

 o follow updates from the Rural Crime Team follow them on social media:

•  https://www.facebook.com/CheshPolRural/  
•  https://twitter.com/CheshPolRural