Countryside crime put in the spotlight

From using off road bikes to catching horses, more police officers are to be trained to tackle rural crime. Nottinghamshire Police’s new rural and wildlife crime partnerships manager Juliet Webber is shining a spotlight on rural crime within the force — helping to make its response even more robust. The type of crimes which affect rural communities and wildlife often require more specific skills and knowledge to identify and deal with, and since taking over the post in December 2024, Juliet has worked to ensure more officers are equipped with this knowledge.

She has also worked to build up key contacts outside of the force — meeting with organisations such as the NFU, Nottingham Wildlife Trust, Bransby Horses, and landowners — to help support this. Among this was the recent rejuvenation of the force’s Horse Watch scheme — a particular interest for Juliet as she has a horse herself — which has seen named officers allocated as representatives for each area and trained by Bransby Horses in horse handling, welfare, and body language. The aim is that eventually all officers will have this training, whether in person or via training videos.



The Horse Watch scheme seeks to prevent equine-related crime, build stronger relationships between police and the equestrian community, and improve road safety by giving riders a way to share footage of dangerous driving around horses. This can be done through the Operation Captured online portal, where helmet camera footage can be shared with police and investigated where possible. “We have our first yard meeting on Saturday in Collingham.

It’s a good chance to reiterate that message,” Juliet said. “Dangerous driving around horses happens a lot, but people don’t know where to go with it. “By submitting, even if nothing happens, its been logged.

” The training will also help officers identify cases of poor animal welfare — even if it was not the job they had been called to — and be the ‘eyes and ears’ for partner authorities. Changes are also being made in other areas, including the off-road bike team who are often deployed to remote areas difficult for the police 4x4s to reach. The team is to be bolstered by five more officers currently in training, and a new booking system created by Juliet means their deployment can be ‘more useful’, allowing greater collaboration with other departments such as drones to track suspects or missing people.

The system will also allow the control room to know where the bikes are deployed, meaning they can be diverted to nearby incidents if needed. A further 22 wildlife crime officers are to be trained up this year, which will increase the total to 35 across the county with specific knowledge of laws around fishing, hunting, poaching, badgers, and bats. Wildlife crime-specific training is also to be given to control room staff, to help them better assist people who have rung up to report an issue.

“A lot of the crime is seasonal, such as with the fishing seasons,” Juliet added. “Some of the issues are really specific, and the laws around them can be quite complicated. “The Angling Trust will do some training in May to give officers some specific information about fishing, so they are confident in what they can arrest and prosecute for.

” Part of the focus on rural crime will now also turn to keeping the public in the loop. Juliet has recently started to use the Notts Alerts community messaging system to share updates on rural issues and work being done by officers — which those interested in can sign up to to receive email updates. “I’ve seen what other forces are doing and we want to be as good, if not better, than that,” Juliet said.

“I think people can feel a little undervalued, but my role is 100% rural so I can do the communications for this. “We are doing things, we just don’t talk about them enough at the moment. “It’s important to say that what we’ve done is as a result of reporting — we need people to keep reporting.

“It is key information that helps us to build a picture, without reports it doesn’t look like there’s a problem.”.