Local ‘spotters’ help bring down rural crime

THAMES Valley Police’s Thame Neighbourhood Policing team have reported a dramatic down-turn in rural crime in the area, partly due to the use of civilian, local ‘spotters’.

Image courtesy of the National Rural Crime Network

Rural Crime includes such offences as fly-tipping, illegal off-roading which can cause damage to the environment and disturbs local wildlife, theft of agricultural machinery, hare-coursing and cannabis cultivation.

Thames Valley Police attribute this drop to ‘high visibility proactive patrols and operations organised by the Thame Neighbourhood Policing Team’ and team work in partnership with local landowners who, using their local knowledge and themselves patrol rural areas, act as ‘spotters’.

The neighbourhood team has future overnight operations planned in the area aimed at preventing and detecting rural crime. This involves joint work between the neighbourhood team and the Special Constabulary.