Rural Crime – Report, Report, Report

Rural crime contacts for UK & Ireland

As an industry, we have all heard accounts of theft and vandalism – these range from opportunist thefts to large scale organised crime. Rural crime is very different from urban crime. It often severely impacts forestry and rural businesses as replacement machines and parts can be very costly and involve an extended period of inactivity which can put business at risk.

Crimes in a forestry environment often involve significant damage and the rural nature of the operation can make them difficult to secure. Perpetrators will often use threatening behaviour if confronted, this puts rural communities and individuals at risk. To compound this issue many rural locations are remote and so police response times are lengthened.

It is vitally important that all rural related crimes are reported to the police, no matter how insignificant. Although a simple ask, too often we hear that there is ‘no point reporting a crime because the police will not follow it up’. However, that is simply not the case and in many cases the reporting of the crime has additional benefits as patterns of criminality can be identified in certain areas, and that will drive the Police to put resources into that area. So the more it’s reported, the more an analyst could look at it and say, ‘This is a problem area, we need to be concentrating on this’.”

(Sources - NFU – Combatting Crime; NRCN - The Importance of Reporting Crime)

Reporting Crime

• In an emergency, always call 999
• Rural crime number UK & NI: 101
• Crimestopper: 0800 555 111
• Rural crime Southern Ireland: 112
• Crimestoppers Ireland: 1800250025
• Southern Ireland have IFA Crime Prevention Office: https://www.ifa.ie/rural-security-crime-prevention/
• Wales Wildlife and Rural Crime Group: https://www.gov.wales/wales-wildlife-and-rural-crime-group
• NPCC National Wildlife and Rural Crime Unit (England): https://www.nwcu.police.uk/about/npcc-rural-and-wildlife-crime-strategy/
• Rural Watch Scotland -  https://www.ruralwatchscotland.co.uk/