Police out in force around Worksop and Bassetlaw as new technology helps combat rural crime

Neighbourhood Policing officers from Bassetlaw teamed with state-of-the-art equipment, intelligence, and an aim to protect the people in their communities are continuing their efforts to find and arrest criminals targeting farmers, landowners, and homeowners and causing misery to communities.

Carrying out daily patrols in both marked and unmarked vehicles the team are in constant communication with farmers and landowners who are reporting issues.

Split into Worksop North, Worksop South, and Harworth and Retford the teams are working together with partners and neighbouring forces to tackle the issues at the heart of the Bassetlaw communities.

Heading out to hotspot areas and making their presence known they are continuing to target off-road bikers, quad bikes, poachers, thieves stealing plant machinery including tractors and antisocial behaviour.

Thanks also to funding secured by Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner a whole host of state-of-the-art equipment is at officer's fingertips.

Some of these include:

- Four drones

- More marked vehicles with searchlights

- Night vision goggles & thermal imaging goggles

- Farm bio security kits

- Five off-road motorbikes

- Automatic number plate recognition cameras

- Brand-new off-road vehicle stingers.

It’s not only the officers out on the beat who are benefiting, there are now 12 rural crime points of contact within the control room to help those specifically reporting rural issues.

Officers are also undertaking more training than ever targeting large animal handling, training in farming machinery, plant, and vehicle theft, 4x4 response driving and working with the National Farmers’ Union for a better understanding and responses to tackle the unique impact of rural crime.

Inspector Hayley Crawford, District Commander for Bassetlaw, said: “We know how much tackling rural crime means to our communities and those who live and work in the area and we understand how concerning it can be to hear about incidents.

“But I want to personally reassure everyone that we take every single report extremely seriously, are using every piece of equipment available to us to investigate, and have officers patrolling paying close attention to known crime hotspot areas.

“I want to issue a warning to anyone thinking about committing rural crime in any form that we are there, we’re watching and working with partners to catch anyone found to be breaking the law.

“You may not always see us or think we’re around but we are out there carrying out covert and high visibility patrols – but to our rural criminals, I want you to know we are gathering as much intelligence as possible to put a stop to your crimes.

“I want to encourage anyone who lives or works in our rural communities to report incidents and speak to us – even if you just want some free safety advice, you can be confident we are here to help and listen.

“If you have been a victim of rural crime or know someone who has, we really need you to come forward and report it to us.

“We will investigate and always do everything in our power to keep all of our communities safe.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry, said: “Rural communities can often feel isolated and vulnerable due to their locations and when they become victims of crime it can hit them hard.

“In some cases, such as thefts of farm machinery, it can impact not only on people’s feelings of safety and loss of property, but their livelihoods too."