The Home Office has announced £800,000 in funding to combat rural and wildlife crime.
The Home Office confirmed the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU) and National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) will receive over £800k to continue their work tackling rural and wildlife crime, which it said can pose unique challenges for policing given the scale and isolation of rural areas.
The estimated cost of rural crime in the UK was £52.8 million in 2023, according to NFU Mutual.
President of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Victoria Vyvyan, said: “Farmers and communities, many already struggling with isolation, have had enough of criminals and violent organised gangs targeting them.”
According to the Home Office funding to the NRCU will enable the unit to increase collaboration across police forces, using up-to-date technology and data to target serious organised crime groups involved in crimes like equipment theft from farms.
Minister for Crime and Policing, Diana Johnson, said: “When you report a crime, it should be properly investigated, with victims having faith that justice will be delivered, and criminals punished.
“But too often victims of crime in rural communities have been left feeling undervalued and isolated, whether it be famers having equipment or livestock stolen, or villages targeted by car thieves and county lines gangs.
The funding follows the government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently in the committee stage. Under the bill, police and local authorities would have new powers to tackle crime, including new measures that give officers warrantless powers of entry.
This means police will be able to enter locations they have identified by electronic mapping, providing officers with another tool to tackle stolen equipment and machinery from farms and agricultural businesses.
It also includes new measures to enable statutory guidance to be issued to local authorities regarding their fly-tipping enforcement powers.
Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, said: “This Government will crackdown on these criminals and bring them to justice with specialist rural policing units to protect farmers and our rural communities.”
The Home Office said the funding for the NWCU will also reinforce the UK’s leadership in global wildlife crime prevention through the unit’s work with INTERPOL.
