Police doubles up Rural Crime Team to win war on Northamptonshire's countryside crooks

Northamptonshire's Police chief is throwing extra resources into a battle with countryside criminals in the county.

Chief Constable Nick Adderley has doubled the size of his Rural Crime Team and launched a six-month campaign to clamp down on all types of crime away from main towns and villagers.

It will target criminals whose offences threaten the livelihoods of farmers and our rural communities across the county.

And on its very first day, Operation Connect uncovered stolen plant machinery and returned it to its rightful owner.

Inspector Chris Thomas, who will lead Operation Connect, admitted: “Rural communities can often feel overlooked when it comes to policing.

"So I hope the launch of Operation Connect and the doubling of the Force’s Rural Crime Team reassures people that their livelihoods and their safety is just as important to us as other areas of the county.

"The type of crime we will be looking to deal with includes burglary, theft — particularly of agricultural vehicles and machinery and red diesel — and animal offences such as poaching and hare coarsing.

“The farmers we have spoken to so far are really pleased to see the investment we have made and it’s been heartening to hear how much they want to work with us to tackle rural crime.

“Enforcement activity will be by way of specific day-time and night-time operations and we will be utilising every form of technology, including high performance Interceptor vehicles, ANPR and thermal imaging drones to both tackle and prevent crime.

“We would ask people to continue to contact us when they see anything they think is suspicious so we can be on the front foot and bring those who threaten the livelihoods of our farmers and rural communities to justice.”

The first day of action was in Oundle and saw 29 vehicles and five people stopped, intelligence gathered on a potential catalytic converter thief and machinery recovered.

More night-time operations followed in the Daventry and Preston Capes areas with patrols into the small hours checking farms for insecurities and looking out for suspicious vehicles.