About 60 officers from Avon and Somerset and neighbours in Devon and Cornwall met on Exmoor to focus on rural crime.
The officers from the West district in Somerset and North Devon were instructed in livestock registration, ear-tagging and movement regulations and what to look for if those rules are being broken; on deer poaching, the latest techniques agricultural vehicle thieves are using to evade capture and from Historic England experts on helping them to protect the country’s protected buildings and landscapes.
They met at Simonsbath, on a farm managed by host Mark de Wynter-Smith of the Exmoor Forest Estate, who spoke about the impact of crime on agricultural businesses in the area. Also providing a farmer’s perspective was Robin Milton, who sits on the NFU’s South West Regional Uplands Forum, and he passed on his expertise on livestock tagging and registration to officers to help them if they come across sheep, cows and pigs being moved in vehicles.
The event was opened by Avon and Somerset’s Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens and Supt Andy Munday of Devon and Cornwall Police, who is the force’s rural crime lead.
Sgt Stuart Williams of our Rural Crime Team said: “Events like these are invaluable for making sure that officers covering rural areas have the knowledge to know what to look for when investigating farm and countryside crime. We already have successful Farm and Horse Watch schemes for sharing information with the community, excellent joint intelligence and operational working relationships with Devon and Cornwall Police and our other neighbours, and officers across our rural areas helping to tackle a wide range of rural crime.”
Figures the force released last month showed rural crime (such as farm burglaries) had fallen 16pc year-on-year, and all crime in rural areas was down by about 5pc.
Supt Munday said: “We have created a number of schemes which focus on tackling specific rural crimes including Neighbourhood Watch, Farm Watch, Horse Watch, and Moor Watch which all encourage the public to work with each other and the police to help tackle and reduce crime in rural areas. Events like these are invaluable for making sure that officers covering rural areas have the knowledge to know what to look for when investigating farm and countryside crime, as well as helping to strengthening our operational working relationship with Avon and Somerset Police.”
