POLICE say they have trained up extra specialist officers following a rise in rural crime across Staffordshire.
It comes after figures revealed an 8.9% increase across the county since 2022 – with the value of the goods stolen from rural communities increasing by £1.8million.
New officers and teams are now being deployed as part of a revamped approach to tackling crime in the countryside.
Staffordshire Police has trained up ten new specialist rural and wildlife crime officers this year, bringing the total number to 62.
The force has also launched a county proactive and rural crime team, which will engage with communities, identify risks and support the implementation of “problem solving interventions”. In addition, Staffordshire Police has also adopted a new rural crime strategy, with ongoing monitoring of its effectiveness.
Senior officers gave an update on the new approach to Staffordshire Commissioner Ben Adams during his latest public performance meeting.
Chief Constable Chris Noble said:
“We’ve had an extended family of rural crime officers in Staffordshire for some time and there are real strengths in having that.
“But what we found when we visited other forces is that there’s also a real benefit in having a specialist core team and being really clear on what your strategy is on rural crime – and then holding yourself to account and encouraging others to hold you to account as well.”
Chief Superintendent Emily Clarke explained how the force had developed its new approach to rural crime after engaging with the National Farmers Union and other representatives of rural communities.
She said:
“We recognise the importance of rural crime, and the impact that it has on our rural communities, particularly as 70% of Staffordshire is rural.
“We also understand the link to business crime. Victims typically live and work in that rural community. There’s a significant fear of crime in those areas.
“We’ve developed a new approach with key performance metrics and a strategy. We’ve got a long history of managing and tackling wildlife and heritage crime, and wider rural crime, but we recognised – based on fact that we’ve had an 8.9% increase in rural acquisitive crime in the last two years – that we need to look at things differently.”
Ch Supt Clarke said it was “very early days” for the new approach, but there had already been some “significant results”. She said officers would bring performance data on rural crime to future meetings.
This is good news as I’ve been campaigning for greater resources to combat rural crime for the last 3 years. As Cabinet Member for Community Safety at Lichfield District Council and a Staffordshire County Council councillor for Lichfield Rural West, I have seen the results of rural crime and the impact it has on our farming communities.
I advocated more resources when appointed by Lichfield District Council on Police, Fire and Crime Panel for Staffordshire before being replaced by Labour in May, when I would question and request greater resources in the rural communities to Ben Adams Staffordshire Commissioner.