Annual Report 2023- 2024 - Page 9

Through partnership working, Lancashire Constabulary have had some excellent results cracking down on offenders who attempt to exploit rural areas to ensure that residents in rural areas rightly feel as safe as those in our larger towns and cities.

Rural Task Forces

The dedicated rural taskforces target the issues that matter most to rural communities. Including machinery theft, rural, wildlife and heritage crime.

Launch of new Fylde Task Force

In January 2024, the number of rural taskforces serving our rural communities was increased with a new team dedicated to the Fylde area. The new team consists of a Sergeant and six police officers, who provide extra resources to target, disrupt and address crime in rural communities.

These officers are a great asset to the rural communities, strengthening relationships and intelligence gathering whilst addressing and disrupting offenders.

Making sure that our rural areas receive the policing support they need is something the Commissioner is passionate about and he is delighted to see this new additional team addressing crimes committed in rural Fylde.

Our rural taskforces continue delivering dedicated, targeted policing that engages with rural communities, and the results they continue to deliver is testament to all their hard work. The Commissioner is pleased that by strengthening the capacity of these teams across Lancashire, we will be able to continue taking the fight to criminals in our rural areas.

National Rural Crime Week 2023

During National Rural Crime Week in September 2023, rural task forces joined with partner agencies, proactively targeting offenders.

Working hand in hand with the Driver Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and Lancashire Police Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit in key point of rural Lancashire, officers stopped vehicles passing through checkpoints to ensure they had the right documents, including tax and insurance.

South rural taskforce boosted through Safer Lancashire Neighbourhoods Fund grant

Officers from the South Rural Task Force received £8.5K in funding to deter thieves from disrupting our rural communities across South Lancashire.

The Commissioner provided the investment through the Police Innovation strand of his Safer Lancashire Neighbourhoods Fund, to support the fantastic work being done to protect rural communities and ensure every area of Lancashire can feel safe and protected.

The team, which covers rural areas of Preston, Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire applied for funding to purchase additional state-of-the-art marking equipment.

The funding provided three new Pryor security marking machines which officers use to mark vehicles, machinery and equipment in rural communities, making them less attractive to thieves and also enabling them to be identified should they be stolen and later recovered.

Items marked by the machines also have a tamper-resistant label warning potential thieves that the property has been permanently marked.