Rural criminals targeted during national week of action

National Rural Crime Action Week ran from 18 September. North Yorkshire Police's Rural Task Force carried out 58 different deployments to mark the campaign.

This included visits to rural business, including Northallerton, Skipton, York and Thirsk auction marts to provide crime prevention and targeting hardening advice.  There were day and night poaching patrols across the whole force area, leading to a number of people being reported for poaching and road traffic offences, and vehicles being seized.  A number of arrests made and a large quantity of stolen property returned to its owners, including a quad bike taken from the Craven area and tracked to West Yorkshire. The investigation is ongoing.

The deployments were coordinated with police colleagues in Cleveland, West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria to ensure criminals targeting rural areas couldn't travel between areas undetected.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police's Rural Task Force also posted crime prevention videos about quad bike theft, premises security, mental health and wellbeing, livestock worrying and theft, and GPS equipment security. The videos were viewed on Facebook more than 21,000 times in total.

Inspector Mark Earnshaw, of the Rural Task Force, said: "This was a national week of action - but tackling rural crime remains daily business for the Rural Task Force and North Yorkshire Police as a whole.

"We're determined to disrupt and prosecute criminals who target our rural communities, and we'll keep working closely with partners organisations, volunteers and communities to drive down rural crime."