New rural crime strategy launched in Essex
One of the strategy's key objectives is tackling domestic abuse
A new Rural Crime Strategy has been launched in Essex this week with the aim of tackling crime within rural communities and supporting vulnerable people.
How rural is Essex?
Around 70% of Essex's land area is considered rural and around a quarter of the population live in rural communities.
On top of that, 14% of all crime is Essex is thought of as rural crime - that's over 23,000 offences in a year.
What did the old strategy do?
The previous strategy, which ran from 2017-2021, heralded some successes including a 70% reduction in the number of unauthorised encampments, a 10% reduction in hare coursing, and a 36% reduction in large machinery theft - according to the force.
The new strategy is prioritising the support of vulnerable communities, including victims of domestic abuse.
Stats provided by Essex Police suggest that over 19% of rural crime was domestic abuse related in 2022.
What has the PFCC said?
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Roger Hirst told us: "It is a real challenge, it's one of the biggest sources of harm in the county, both in rural and urban communities, at the moment, and it's been growing a lot.
"One of the first ways of dealing with domestic abuse is improving the confidence of victims, and potential victims, so they feel able to report it, and putting in new ways for them to report it.
"I think that (reporting it) can be very different in a rural environment to an urban environment. Very hard."
He added: "What we need to get better at is how do we stop it happening. So, helping the perpetrators ... with CBT programmes and general awareness."
Mr Hirst also recognised the need to tackle other rural issues including hare coursing, theft of agricultural machinery, and fly-tipping, among other things.