South West police forces come together to tackle rural crime

Today I had the honour of attending the South West Regional Rural Crime Conference, hosted by Dorset Police. The conference was an opportunity for the five police forces across the South West to share best practice and learn from industry experts, while continuing to build positive relationships between the forces in the region.

It is important that we all come together as neighbouring forces to tackle the crimes that affect our rural communities the most. Criminals do not see county borders and in order to be successful in catching and deterring offenders we must not either.

Dorset is a proudly rural county, and as its Police and Crime Commissioner, I have wanted from the very outset, to help those agricultural and other isolated communities who have in the past felt overlooked. That is why ‘Fighting Rural Crime’ is one of the six priorities within my Police and Crime Plan and why I have put in place a partnership of stakeholders to form the Rural Crime Reduction Board.

In Dorset, our Rural Crime Team has been strengthened massively, not only in terms of their number but in the resources available to them and their work has only been intensified by their ability to work effectively with colleagues and partner organisations across the county’s borders. This conference is a prime example of what can be achieved when we all work together, and I very much look forward to seeing what more we can achieve on behalf of the people and rural communities of the South West.

I’d like to invite you to watch the video here and find out a bit more about the conference.

David Sidwick

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner