Police across the county continue to bring the fight to rural criminals

Police across Hampshire are continuing to bring the fight to rural criminals operating in the county.

Offenders have been making use of the darker evenings throughout autumn and winter to target fields, isolated communities, and rural estates to commit crime. This has involved rural properties being burgled, with power tools, quad bikes and farm machinery being stolen, in addition to offences targeting our county’s wildlife including poaching and hare coursing.

Last week, a number of farms in the areas surrounding Stratfield Saye and rural Basingstoke in particular were burgled.

On Thursday 9 January, Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya joined officers on a proactive operation across the county with the objective of disrupting criminals involved in this type of offending. The operation ran overnight into the early hours of Friday morning (10 January).

The operation was led by our specialist Country Watch team, with additional support from neighbourhoods policing, armed response, the Dog Unit, National Police Air Service (NPAS), and colleagues over the border in Surrey.

Local gamekeepers and estate security managers also collaborated with us on the night, offering to notify officers directly involved in the operation immediately of any suspicious or criminal activity they witnessed in their local areas.

A large area of the county was covered by roaming patrols including the rural towns, villages, estates and country roads in the districts of Basingstoke, Test Valley, Winchester, Hart, and East Hampshire.

On Thursday night, officers from the District Policing Team (DPT) were deployed to reports of suspicious individuals walking around a fishery on the River Test. On attendance, officers were then made aware of two individuals and a dog trespassing on nearby farmland in East Wellow. Police located and spoke to the individuals on the farmland – two teenage boys aged 13 and 14 respectively. A bag was retrieved from a nearby bush which contained two dead hares. The Country Watch team will be making further enquiries.

Further north in the county, officers were particularly interested in a silver Honda CR-V which was suspected of being involved in the burglaries which took place earlier in the week. The vehicle was spotted by officers in the South Warnborough area and efforts were made to pursue and contain it, with aerial support from NPAS and the drone utilised in the early hours of Friday morning.

The vehicle had failed to stop for police and is then suspected of making use of the byways and fields in the area to evade detection. The vehicle was later located burnt out. Enquiries continue.

Units also conducted a number of stop checks of vehicles in the county which were being driven in rural areas late at night, including in Tadley and Andover, and other areas within the Test Valley, Winchester and Hart districts.

One vehicle, which was not fully defrosted, was spotted speeding on icy roads in Longmoor. The vehicle was stopped and the driver was given a word of warning by police, whilst another vehicle was seized by police in Popham as the driver had no licence.

Inspector Cath MacDonald said: “Catching criminals involved in this type of offending is just half the battle. Whilst no arrests were made on the night of this operation, the heightened visible police presence assisted in disrupting the activities of a suspicious vehicle in South Warnborough for example, and undoubtedly prevented further offending.

“Prevention is just as important, as we know the significant impact that rural crime is having on our communities living in these remote areas. Stopping it from happening in the first place goes some way in minimising the harm that is being caused.

“We will be conducting further operations of this nature, whilst also continuing to investigate any crimes reported and develop the intelligence picture around the people and vehicles involved.

“The public are key to helping us do this, and it was fantastic to see people from rural communities such as gamekeepers and estate security managers offering their support to police on the night of this operation.

“Country Watch regularly engage with landowners, farmers, gamekeepers and other members of the rural community as part of their role. We want to ensure the community are as much a part of our efforts to bring the fight to criminals as police and partners are.

“Please keep reporting information you have to us. Whether this relates to suspicious individuals or vehicles, burnt out vehicles or other unusual vehicles left on farmland, or information about crimes. Every piece of information you provide to us strengthens our intelligence picture and our ability to disrupt the people involved in crime.”

If you have information about crime or suspicious activity in your area, please report this to police on 101, or via the report tool at www.hampshire.police.uk

Dial 999 if a crime is in progress, or in the event of an emergency.

If you are a member of DISC you can also use this platform to provide information to the police. If you have a business connection to the rural and wildlife environment, you may be eligible to be a member of DISC. Please email [email protected]