The Buzzz are proud to be associated with the largest ever survey into the impact of crime on people and businesses who live or work in rural communities. Featured on BBC Countryfile last Sunday the survey enters it’s last week and is likely to have generated over 13,000 responses. Commissioned by the National Rural Crime Network. the survey seeks to understand both the financial and the emotional cost on rural communities of crime and Anti-Social Behaviour. Support has been provided from a range of Police Forces across England and Wales who have a rural focus within their area; rural community based organisations and people like Historic England and the National Farmers Union. It is astonishing to be able to provide access to a survey which is clearly so important to so many people- we forget sometimes in our busy lives that one in five of the UK population live in 80% of the land mass area of our islands. The rural economy contributes around 28% of our National Product and as government increasingly focus attention on urban ‘powerhouses’ for economic growth, we should not forget the contribution the rural economy makes.
The purpose of the survey is to understand what people in rural areas expect from their police and how they are left feeling in the aftermath of crime. With continued pressure on policing resources and the cost of policing vast rural areas rising – how do Police Commissioners and Chief Constables bridge this divide? Hopefully our first National Rural Crime Survey will provide some insights to guide policing strategy and reassure rural communities that they are not overlooked when it comes to deploying resource over the next 5 years. We will be sharing our results here following publication of our report but if any reader lives in a rural area and wishes to take part in the survey before it closes on 24th June click here.
