Tackling Rural Crime Event

Residents of Norfolk are being invited to attend an event to find out how Norfolk Constabulary are dealing with rural crime.  Operation Randall will present a short presentation at Glebe Farm in Gressenhall on Wednesday, 5 October from 2-4pm. The Chief Constable, Paul Sanford and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, Giles Orpen-Smellie will also be in attendance to talk to visitors about their key concerns. 

While this informal event allows visitors to drop in over the two-hour period, the presentation is scheduled to take place at the beginning of the event.

This follows on from the success of the recent Q&A panel event on rural crime at the Royal Norfolk Show. 

Organised by the PCC, this was hosted by the CLA, the Country Land and Business Association, and was presented by the editor of the Eastern Daily Press.  Giles was joined by CLA East Regional Director, Cath Crowther, CLA Vice President Gavin Lane, Norfolk’s Chief Constable, Paul Sanford and PC Chris Shelley to take questions from the floor.

Speaking to Radio Norfolk before the Q&A session, Giles said: “Norfolk is a rural county and if you want to put that in number terms, 60% of Norfolk’s population live in rural areas. A lot of people are involved in rural employment. Farming is the obvious one but you’ve got others involved in the heritage industry and in all the other different parts of the rural community and in some respects it’s not actually the crime it’s the perception and threat of crime.”

Issues discussed at the Q&A included hare coursing, the theft of GPS devices from farm vehicles, theft of fuel, sheep worrying and fly-tipping.

The big topic of the session was the illegal blood sport, hare coursing. The audience heard that a multi-partnership effort in the East had achieved a significant reduction in this criminal practice but work would continue to stamp out the ‘sport’ which involved organised criminal gambling syndicates.

Information:

If you are planning to attend, it would be really helpful to email: OperationRandall@norfolk.police.uk to gauge interest.

The full address is: Glebe Farm Barn, Church Lane, Gressenhall, Dereham NR19 2QQ