A NEW initiative to tackle rural crime has been launched, after research showed people in the countryside had far less trust in the police than city-dwellers.

The National Rural Crime Network, chaired by Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire Julia Mulligan, has created the Rural Policing Matters campaign following concerns by residents in rural areas.

Research from the NRCN, to be released next month, shows rural crime is not being reported as much as it should be, but also that trust in policing is much lower in rural areas than urban ones. Only a third of people living or working in rural areas believe the force is responding to issues of concern to them – compared to two-thirds of all residents nationally.

Mrs Mulligan said: “There is real concern both from representatives of rural communities like our Network, and those communities themselves, that without proper resourcing for rural police forces some crimes and anti-social behaviour might not get the attention they deserve.

“Trust in policing is already very low, especially when compared to urban residents, and if the government doesn’t sufficiently recognise the needs of rural people, and therefore rural policing, that trust will only diminish. We may then be in a vicious cycle of under-reporting, because of lack of trust and resources to deal with issues, which will then lead to further under-reporting.”

The Network also wants the Government to reconsider its proposed changes to how police forces are funded, which it says do not take into account the cost of policing a rural area.

To find out more about the initiative, and to sign a petition against proposed changes to regional funding of police forces, go to nationalruralcrimenetwork.net