ere’s an important message from West Mercia Police on why it’s really important to report matters of rural crime or suspicious incidents to the police – here’s why:
- Suspicious incidents are really useful for police work. Often seeing a suspicious vehicle enter a lane, a yard or a stranger knocking at your door could be an early warning they are looking to come back to steal. Vehicle registrations can give us information on who is doing this. Therefore these incidents are just as important to report as actual crimes!
- Most importantly – without the figures and reports it looks like the crime isn’t happening in the rural areas. We are pushing for more resources, more help to tackle rural crime and so need evidence to show what is happening, where and when. We can also offer rural crime prevention and discuss trail cameras, early intruder alarms and offer a property marking service.
If you are a victim or witness a crime that is happening now then you must phone 999 immediately. If you have seen a suspicious incident, or would like an update on a crime, you should contact the Safer Neighbourhood Teams or Rural and Business Officers. These officers do not have the capacity to deal with adding crimes onto the system and are not 24/7, whereas the police control room is and can allocate the matter immediately if urgent.
