Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (Commissioner), David Allen, attended Penrith Agricultural Show with the Constabulary’s Rural Crime Team last weekend, to listen to local residents concerns around rural and wildlife crime, raise awareness around such crimes, its effects and provide prevention advice.
54% of Cumbria’s residents live in rural areas compared to 18% nationally according to Cumbria Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, Cumbria Intelligence Observatory.
Rural crime covers agricultural crime - involving farm machinery theft for example, equine crime, wildlife crime and heritage crime which includes offences like lead theft from churches or damage to ancient monuments. Rural crime can also involve environmental crimes, such as Sites of Scientific Interest damage associated with illegal off-roading.
Commissioner, David Allen, said: “Cumbria is an incredibly rural county so it’s vital that we have dedicated resources to combat rural crime and provide safety advice to businesses and residents.
“The Constabulary’s Rural Crime Team engage with a wide range of communities to tackle rural crime, and in 2024 as result of their hard work, saw a 44% reduction in quad bike thefts, with over 30 less victims having their quad bikes stolen.
“It was great to see so many people visit their stand at the Penrith Show last weekend and learn more about how to keep their property safe, use preventative marking and tracking devices and hear about initiatives such as the community rural WhatsApp groups.
“The Rural Crime Team’s work also ranges from locating stolen farm machinery and vehicles, to working with multi-agency organisations from other counties to disrupt organised crime gangs.
“A major issue within rural and wildlife crime is under reporting, as some people in rural communities believe that the police can’t help, which is not the case.
“Preventing and reducing rural crime is a community effort. The Police do what they can to respond to crimes and raise awareness to prevent thefts occurring, but they need to help of the public to reduce it even further and need people to report rural crime and any suspicious behaviour that they may see.”
Rural Crime Co-ordinator for Cumbria Police, Karen Dakin, said: “Penrith Show was a great opportunity for the team to engage with local people whilst offering advice and guidance on practical steps that can be taken to protect property and deter criminals.
“Crimes such as the theft of machinery, fuel and other rural and wildlife offences have a negative impact on our communities - financially and emotionally – which is why we have a dedicated Rural Crime Team in Cumbria to tackle such offending.
“We will continue to take action against anyone who thinks they can target our rural communities and encourage people to report suspicious activity in their locality so we can prevent offences before they occur.”
If you wish to report to police you can do so online at Report a crime | Cumbria Police. You can also phone on 101. Always phone 999 in an emergency or if a crime is in progress.