Member

Cambridgeshire’s rural crime action team already punches above its weight. In 2023-24 alone, it recovered almost £1 million-worth of stolen property, seized 163 vehicles used in crime, attended more than 1,700 incidents and prosecuted 83 suspects. They work closely with the national rural crime unit, but, once again, despite their success, they are underfunded and under-resourced. Cambridgeshire is a large county with significant rural areas, yet we rely on just a small team of officers to take on everything from machinery theft to the real danger of the violent organised crime groups who conduct hare coursing: an issue that desperately needs to be tackled in Cambridgeshire.