Nearly half of Dorset’s population live in rural areas our homes and property are – or could be - and about the wider issue of rural crime.

Throughout the summer the CLA had a focus on rural crime with rural crime teams from police forces across the region using our stands at the major shows to meet and advise country people on the best ways to deter rural crime – and there was one common, although worrying, factor - that one in four rural crimes committed still goes unreported.

If we don’t report it, it doesn’t feature in the statistics and that, in turn, affects local and central planning and funding for the rural crime teams.

In Dorset, Rural Crime Team co-ordinator PC Claire Dinsdale and rural engagement officer PCSO Tom Balchin gave us all a bit of a wake-up call as part of their presentation to our guests at breakfast seminars at the Dorset, Gillingham and Shaftesbury and Melplash shows.

We heard them explain how they are taking the fight against crime into the countryside – but we also heard them lamenting the fact the public at large don’t take basic precautions to help themselves.

PCSO’s Balchin’s comments certainly made me think – and, more importantly act - and, with the dark nights approaching, it is perhaps a good time to give some thought about how secure your property is. For instance, if your chain saw is stolen from your garden shed and you report it; the police will ask you to describe it to which you’ll probably say:” Well its such and such a make and its orange and white.”

At any one time the police might have dozens of suspected stolen chain saws in their possession matching that description and if you can’t identify yours there’s a real possibility it will have to be returned to the person who claims he bought it from a bloke down the pub. 

Alternatively, you could spend a tenner on an engraving pen or smart water pen and mark it with your name and postcode and bingo – you get it back.

Rural crime costs private landowners, rural businesses and individual householders millions of pounds a year and poses a real threat to the stability of the rural economy – but there is just no escaping the fact that the fight against rural crime is a two-way street which requires action from us, the rural population, as well as the police.

There is plenty of advice available on ways to make life more difficult for rural criminals from CCTV and making sure your property is well lit, to fitting tracker devices on vehicles and quads and marking machinery and equipment with Smart Water or by engraving but critically report every crime and report all suspicious activity. 

For bespoke crime prevention advice, it could be the right time to contact the Dorset Rural Crime Team at www.dorset.police.uk/RuralCrime.”