POLICE and farmers' unions have being working together to develop a plan to help change how officers safeguard rural communities in Dyfed-Powys.

Assistant Chief Constable Liane James, of Dyfed-Powys police, has been leading work which includes setting up 'watch' schemes to tackle issues that matter people, including Farm Watch, Horse Watch and Gate Watch.

She said the force had also 'gone digital' with local police teams taking to twitter to share news and crime prevention advice, plus new mobile police stations were also in operation visiting towns and villages in the region.

“It isn’t just about being visible, it is also about police teams having the specialist knowledge and expertise to understand rural issues and the impact they can have on farmers and landowners," said As Ch Con James. "We have appointed a number of PCSOs in each county as rural liaison officers. They have specific knowledge about rural issues or come from a farming background and can assist with advice on preventing theft of farming equipment, wildlife crime, sheep theft, road safety and poaching.

“However, we are looking for more support from people living in our communities to help us make even more improvements. We are still recruiting for more volunteers to join our Special Constables to help us safeguard towns and villages. We run training sessions in each county and have streamlined the programme and combined it with an ‘on patrol learning package’.

“There is still more to do, and over the next six months we will be providing training to more officers on issues and crimes that affect people living in rural communities and running specific operations to deal with offenders in our area.”

Examples being highlighted by the force include BRAG - the Beacons Rural Action Group initiative which brings together police, Natural Resource Wales, Brecon Beacons National Park and the local Community of Talybont on Usk to prevent crime and help keep people safe.

Since it started officers have repatriated a group of soaking wet scouts to their accommodation, seized vehicles that have no insurance, recovered drugs, arrested drink drivers, tackled illegal off road vehicles and provided advice to hundreds of visitors.

Insp Matt Scrase said: “South Powys attracts visitors from all over the world. Often we find that they focus on the outstanding countryside and forget about basic crime prevention. Unfortunately criminals know this and they target the area is targeted and the visitors can become victims of crime. The area also suffers from environmental crime, damage to land and annoyance caused by unlawful ‘off roading’, anti-social and inconsiderate behaviour.

“The volunteers and Special Constables who work on the project already have an affinity with rural policing but also receive specialist environmental and wildlife training from Brecon Beacons National Parks," he said.

“This work also requires enforcement action so we work with colleagues who run various operations that focus on stop search of suspected offenders looking for possession of any unlawfully held property. In the main, this results in the seizure of drugs, but we know there is a direct correlation between high drugs seizures and low acquisitive crime.

“I am delighted to report that since the project started, and during our times of deployment, we have not had one victim in the target areas of the Central Beacons.”

Meanwhile, officers in Pembrokeshire are encouraging famers to sign up to Farm Watch to help protect against rural crime by creating a network of people to share information about suspicious activity in the area.

PC Gerwyn Davies said: "It will reduce opportunities for crime to occur and strengthen community spirit so that everyone works together to protect their property. Hopefully by working together in this way we can prevent these rural crimes from happening.

“Most rural theft is opportunistic. Crime is low in the rural area of Pembrokeshire but they do occur, when offenders visiting an area pretend to want to buy scrap metal and then take advantage when they find vulnerable or unoccupied premises.’’

Farm Watch is free to join and farmers to receive crime prevention advice. For more information speak to your local police team or call 101.

To find out more about the Rural Policing Strategy visit www.dyfed-powys.police.uk