More than 300 people attended the event, which was co-ordinated by PC Ashley Weller, Rural, Environmental and Wildlife Crime Officer for the Cotswolds. It featured speakers from the NFU, the Forestry Commission and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC).
The aim of the event, at Cotswold Farm Machinery, was to bring together members of the rural and farming communities to share concerns about, and explore solutions to, the issues which matter to them most.
“I organised the event to give something back to our rural community and show them what the police and other agencies have on offer to help them fight rural crime, poaching and wildlife persecution,” said PC Weller.
Will Frazer, county adviser for the NFU and one of the speakers, said it was important that rural communities work with the police to make the most of resources. Farmer and former county chair Tanya Robbins praised the work already being done by the constabulary.
It is important that rural communities work with the police to make the most of resources
- Will Frazer, Gloucestershire county adviser
Two days later, the force launched its new neighbourhood policing plan which will focus on ‘working within communities and listening to local needs’. Partly in response to representations from the NFU, it has pledged to provide a dedicated, named PCSO in every neighbourhood so that everyone knows who their local bobby is and how to contact them.
The 55 dedicated PCSOs will be the first point of contact for local concerns, but they will be working as part of a bigger team protecting the local and wider communities.
As well as the dedicated PCSOs, each neighbourhood team will include police constables and sergeants, who will work, sometimes behind the scenes, on a wide range of issues such as dangerous drugs networks, tracking down paedophiles and the organised crime groups which are targeting rural communities.
Chief Constable Rod Hansen said: "All policing begins and ends in a neighbourhood. It’s where we need to be to keep people safe and, more importantly, it’s where the public expect us to be. We need you to tell us what your local concerns are, and we will seek to give you dedicated time to help us both solve the issue. Our ambition is to provide a neighbourhood policing service of which you, and we, can be proud."