Nearly 60% of those surveyed by the Countryside Alliance do not think rural policing has improved since the introduction of police and crime commissioners in 2012.
According to responses to the Countryside Alliance’s annual rural crime survey, 73% of the more than 2,000 people surveyed felt that rural crime has gotten worse in the last 12 months.
The figures come ahead of elections for PPCs in England and Wales on May 2, 2024 – the same day as local elections.
42% said they feel less safe than they did five years ago and 12% said they feel unsafe after dark in their homes or communities.
44% said they have felt “intimidated by criminality or criminals” over the last year with 16% considering moving or leaving their local area because of crime.
Rural crime
Over a third of respondents experienced a crime in the past year but 29% did not report the incident to the police.
Half said they thought reporting the crime was a waste of time, with 42% thinking the police would not be able to help.
Out of those who did report a crime, 57% were dissatisfied with the police response.
Of the half of people who have taken crime prevention measures:
- 72% installed security lighting;
- 64% installed CCTV, video, or infra-red systems;
- 17% bought a guard dog.
The most commonly experienced crimes were fly-tipping (37%), agricultural machinery theft (32%), trespass (31%), and wildlife crime/hare poaching (27%).
Sarah Lee of the Countryside Alliance said: “The scale of rural crime and the fear it generates paints a bleak picture of the reality of what living in the countryside can mean for many people.
“Rural communities sadly feel there is a complete disconnect between themselves and their local police force, made even worse by such a lack of visible policing.
“It appears the presence of a police and crime commissioner has done little to help with bridging that gap either.
“We know that many forces have taken strides in separating their police officers into urban and rural teams – which is welcome – but there is clearly a long way to go to establish trust and confidence in rural policing.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are committed to tackling rural crime, which is why we welcomed the rural and wildlife crime strategy published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in September 2022, and are providing the police with the resources they need, after recruiting 20,000 additional officers.
“There are now a record number of police in England and Wales, and overall crime is down by 56%, excluding fraud and computer misuse, and we are supporting forces in rural areas through funding for crime prevention measures, such as CCTV and better technology.”
