Cumbria Police rural crime crackdown after arrests, vehicles seized and stolen goods recovered

Cumbria Police's Rural Crime Team has recovered almost £1 million worth of property following its launch last autumn.

The force say that they have reduced quad bike thefts by 10%, seized 17 vehicles, searched 34 properties and executed 10 warrants.

The aim of the team is to reduce rural crime. This saw them work on 42 operations across various forces, including Border Force.

Speaking one year on since her team’s creation Sergeant Amanda McKirdy from the Rural Crime Team said: “We celebrated our one year as a team continuing our aims of disrupting criminality and engaging with our rural communities.

“We attended the Westmorland Show then supported both regional and national weeks of action - Operation Checkpoint and Alliance aimed at disrupting rural and vehicle crime.

“We arrested several males, recovered stolen property and uplifted vehicles for use in crime, searched dwellings and other premises at various locations in Durham and secured bail conditions."

Jim Campbell believes trust has been built between farmers and the Rural Crime Team. Credit: ITV Border

Jim Campbell is a Cumbrian farmer who has experienced rural crime first-hand.

He had a quad bike stolen just days before the Rural Crime Team was introduced.

Speaking to ITV Border, he said: "I think rural crime was always looked upon as like a secondary crime and it wasn’t seen as an important crime.

"As farmers we felt as though the police weren’t doing enough. Rural crime is a different sort of crime, it is personal to us, it doesn’t often involve thousands and thousands of pounds, but it is a frustrating crime.

The Rural Crime Team has recovered almost £1 million of property in its first year since being introduced. Credit: ITV Border

“With the rural crime unit coming out, they are very approachable, they do build up that trust and you do know that when you phone up it is not an anonymous police person it is someone who knows your farm, that knows your business. That makes a huge difference.”

Cumbria's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner David Allen believes the team is making a difference.

He said: "Cumbria is a rural county so it’s imperative that tackling and preventing rural crime is a priority.

"It was also one of my commitments that I gave in my pre-election manifesto – that I would tackle rural crime, so I am very pleased to see that the Rural Crime Team are having a positive effect across the county.

"Savings of £820,000 is no small feat, as is reducing quad bike thefts by 10%. These thefts really do effect livelihoods so we need to continue to build on this positive work."

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