"It won't even touch the sides": Ashfield councillor rebukes £100,000 fund to tackle rural crime

Caroline Henry, Nottinghamshire police and crime commissioner. has made £100,000 funding available to bolster policing resources, as part of her bid to get tough on criminals blighting rural communities.

However, Coun David Martin, who represents Selston on Nottinghamshire Council, claimed the money “won’t even touch the sides”.

He said: “Mrs Henry has continued to break a major manifesto pledge to introduce rural crime teams to deal with crime in places like Selston.

“Does the commissioner really think a £100,000 investment in rural policing will touch the sides in a county this size?

“In 2019, Mrs Henry pledged to set up a team dedicated to tackling rural crimes, such as machinery and livestock theft.

“This has simply not happened and represents another broken promise to residents in rural areas like Jacksdale, Selston, Underwood and Westwood.

“The £100,000 investment is welcome but is no substitute for dedicated rural crime teams.”

As part of her rural crime-fighting plans, Mrs Henry said new rural beat officers will be introduced in rural areas across the county to ensure communities see more visible front-line policing.

Ten new single points of contact for rural crime will also be introduced into the control room to improve expertise among call takers whenever a crime is reported.

New, state-of-the-art equipment will also be purchased – including drones, off-road motorbikes, fixed and mobile Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras in rural locations, thermal imaging goggles and 4x4 vehicles.

Mrs Henry said: “In my Make Notts Safe plan, I highlighted responding to rural crime as one of my priorities because I feel passionately about helping support those who often feel overlooked.

“The £100,000 rural crime grant is just one of the many initiatives I have put in place to achieve this for rural communities.

“On top of this thematic grant I have also funded a rural crime prevention officer with the £200,000 Safter4All fund as well as Rural Crime Beat Officers and 12 rural crime single points of contact who provide advice and guidance to control room colleagues.

“This grant is part of a much bigger picture of support available to those living in rural areas.”