A focus on rural policing

With its mix of urban areas and rural communities, Essex presents unique challenges for policing. Essex Police Inspector Terry Jacobs explains how the force is tackling these through its rural engagement team.

What is the Essex Police Rural Engagement Team’s remit?

Some crime types are specific to rural areas, and Essex is predominantly rural. The Rural Engagement Team was established in 2017 to acknowledge this and address the particular needs of these communities, and our team has grown to become one of the largest and most experienced rural policing teams in the country.

What types of rural crime do you see most regularly?

Rural crime in Essex encompasses a variety of offences that target individuals, farms and businesses. We focus on wildlife crimes, unauthorised encampments, the theft of agricultural machinery, vehicles and fuel, equine and livestock crime, fly-tipping and heritage crimes, which involve damage to historical sites and illegal metal detecting. Vehicle theft has been a problem countrywide, but in the past year to 31 March, 7.5% fewer vehicles were stolen than in the previous 12 months. We continue to work to reduce thefts further because we understand the difficulties having your vehicle stolen causes, particularly if you live in an isolated area or use it for work. We see some hare coursing post-harvest, but reports have dropped significantly since our team’s inception, from 409 incidents in 2017/18 to 180 in 2024/25. We understand the harm it causes – to the animals, to farmers through property and crop damage and to the wider community through intimidation. Therefore, we respond robustly to reports and also consider whether other offences may have been committed at the same time.

What are the main challenges your team face?

One of our primary issues is the isolated nature of many rural areas, which can make it difficult to respond quickly to incidents. Additionally, crimes often involve organised criminal groups that cross policing borders. Building and maintaining trust and confidence in policing within our rural communities, where residents may feel isolated and vulnerable, is also a challenge.

You mention that rural crime often crosses county borders. How do you communicate with other police forces to ensure criminals are tracked?

All police forces work together to tackle criminals who are crossing county borders – the rural engagement team is not unique in doing so. Essex has a number of ports and we undertake intelligence-led, targeted operations jointly with the National Construction and Agricultural Theft Team and other partners, including Port of Tilbury Police, to prevent and detect machinery being exported. We undertake joint days of action with neighbouring forces to respond to hare coursing incidents, which often cross county borders. This enables us to deploy a significant number of resources during peak season.

How do you engage with rural communities to build trust and raise awareness of your work?

We work closely with residents, businesses and partner agencies using a joint problem-solving approach to tackle criminal activity, and we attend numerous community events. Conversation is crucial and our team relies on these valuable relationships, which provide us with intelligence and help us identify emerging crime trends so we can direct our operational activity where it is most needed. It’s essential that we keep our communities informed and we do this through our media and communications team, showing our response to local concerns and our work to keep people safe.

Essex has many highly-populated urban areas along with vast swathes of rural villages and towns. Is it difficult to balance resources to ensure rural communities are not ignored or forgotten?

With 72% of Essex being rural, our team covers a vast area, and providing specialised training to other teams increases our rural policing capability significantly. We also use crime analysis to identify locations where targeted policing operations will have the greatest impact to ensure our time is used efficiently and our resources are directed correctly.

How does technology, such as drones, help you to tackle rural crime?

Technology plays a crucial role in our team’s work to combat rural crime. We have a drone and we also have access to the National Police Air Service helicopter. Last year, we invested money seized from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) into 200 forensic property marking kits, which we have provided free to selected farmers and agricultural businesses. We are also launching the use of motion-activated trail cameras, again with POCA cash, to protect places that have suffered repeat crimes.

Fly-tipping is a frequent issue for our members. How closely do you work with local authorities and the Environment Agency to tackle this type of crime?

We undertake joint enforcement operations with local councils to deter illegal dumping and hold offenders accountable. We also work closely with the Environment Agency on bigger investigations, which ensures a coordinated response across the county to fly-tipping incidents and allows us to use a range of multi-agency enforcement options, from fines to court action.

How significant is the issue of rural crime going unreported?

Unreported crime is a country-wide challenge. In Essex, we encourage the public to report all crime and anti-social behaviour, but rural incidents can go unreported due to their isolated nature or, sometimes, because of a lack of awareness about what constitutes a crime. Some people feel that nothing will happen if they report a crime. While a lack of evidence means some crimes may not be solvable, we still need people to provide us with information about them to help build a clearer picture of crime patterns, which enables us to target our operational resources. All UK police force websites have online reporting for crimes – although, if it’s a crime in progress or someone’s life is in danger, ring 999.

The CLA meets regularly with police forces across the East region. If there are issues you want us to raise with force please contact east@cla.org.uk or call 01638 590 429.