Derbyshire Constabulary has a dedicated team set up to tackle rural, wildlife and heritage crime, they also provide reassurance to the rural community through increased visibility.
Who’s on the Rural Crime Team?
The Rural Crime Team consists of six dedicated specialist Rural Crime Officers, one Rural Crime Police Community Support Officer (PCSO), and one Wildlife Co-ordinator, led by Sgt Chris Wilkinson. Superintendent Richard Lambert is the Force Strategic Lead for Rural Crime.
About the Rural Crime Team
Derbyshire Constabulary’s Policing Priorities are the foundation for the work being done by the Rural Crime Team (RCT) and the wider organisation to effectively Police rural and wildlife matters. These priorities are;
Fight Crime – The RCT, working with other local and specialist policing teams, will relentlessly pursue opportunities to disrupt and prosecute rural crime offenders. The team have a dedicated Rural and Wildlife Co-ordinator as well as officers identified within the Force Intelligence team that focus on rural issues. There is also an effective tasking process and close links with the rural and wildlife SPOC’s on each rural beat areas. This helps us identify patrol areas to effectively target rural criminality as well as providing support in Policing the wider rural community.
Service to the public – The RCT strive to provide a quality service to members of our Rural Communities, particularly those that have been the victim of crime. The RCT works hard to identify and highlight rural crime, not only by geographic location but also crime type. Once crimes are identified they can be managed effectively, ensuring victims get a good quality of service.
Responsive and Visible Policing – The RCT are committed to be a visible presence in rural communities and take every opportunity to engage with those communities throughout the county. It is important that people are aware of the team and understand the work we do. This high visibility and community engagement approach allows rural communities keep the RCT directly informed of issues that are affecting them.
Prevention and Partnerships – The RCT work with various rural partners to provide long term solutions to problems and effective crime prevention. The recent Datatag property marking scheme for which the RCT were nationally recognised as leading the way in tackling plant and agricultural crime is just one of the ways that the team are working hard to prevent crime.
Trust and legitimacy – Equality, fairness, transparency and inclusivity – internally and externally – will drive everything that we do to ensure trust and legitimacy.
Our people – Derbyshire Police continue to invest in the RCT, rural and wildlife SPOC network as well as other officers and Police staff across the force to raise awareness and training of rural and wildlife matters.
Vulnerability – Vulnerability is at the heart of work we do and the RCT are keen to raise awareness around the vulnerability caused by the isolation of rural locations.
Contact the Rural Crime Team
The Rural Crime Team are contactable via direct email: click HERE to email the team.
