DEVON and Cornwall Police Crime Commissioner Tony Hogg visited Okehampton recently to brief the town’s MP on a range of policing issues, with a focus on tacking agricultural theft.

According to NFU Mutual, the UK’s leading rural insurer, rural theft cost the UK more than £100-million between 2013 and 2015 and although tractor thefts are coming down, quad bike theft has increased as much as 80% in parts of the country.

Mr Hogg met Mel Stride MP to discuss issues affecting residents of the constituency.

Mr Hogg said: ‘It is vitally important to assess the full scale of crime in rural areas and take a strong stand on the issue. In Devon and Cornwall our policing resources are stretched to the limit by urban, rural and coastal demands and the massive population increase in the holiday season.

‘Any crime that happens in an urban area can, and does, happen in rural areas too and how policing is delivered affects everyone living and working there. Traditional farm-related incidents such as fuel theft and sheep rustling make up just one part of the problem but we need to understand all the other issues that affect people in our remoter areas, such as domestic violence and sexual abuse.’

Mr Stride said: ‘Theft and crime in Devon’s rural areas is no less serious than when it occurs in city centres. With a lower risk of being caught compared to more urban areas, criminals are increasingly seeing farms as lucrative targets. Livestock, farm machinery, scrap metal, power tools and fuel are often forgotten and I want farming communities in my constituency and across the county to be properly covered by future policing plans.’

Also discussed during their meeting was the issue of the emergency services working more closely together to deliver better value for money and their joint relief that the chancellor protected the police budget in his Autumn Statement to ensure no further cash cuts to the police force will be necessary during this Parliament.

Mr Stride is also urging farmers in his constituency to sign up to ‘Farm Watch’ – an initiative launched in 2012 to tackle the rise in crime linked to farms through crime alerts and early warning information. The Devon and Cornwall Police contact for the initiative is PC Sharon Kerridge-Smith at Chudleigh Police Station. She is best contacted via email at [email protected]