Kemi Badenoch MP recently joined Police Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex Roger Hirst, and local councillor Mike Steel for a police ride-along around Writtle and surrounding Chelmsford villages.
Ride-alongs are an opportunity to join officers on patrol and gain first-hand insight into daily policing.
Mrs Badenoch and PFCC Roger Hirst discussed local issues currently being tackled, such as anti-social behaviour, vehicle theft, crime prevention funding and upcoming legislation with local farmers, as they patrolled local ‘hot-spots’.
Since 2016, Essex Police has grown in strength, with the recruitment of 905 additional officers, bringing the total force to 3,755 – the largest and strongest in its history. This growth has contributed to the positive trend of decreasing crime rates in the region.
Furthermore, Essex has a dedicated rural policing team, and recent efforts have been made to make reporting crimes easier and quicker for local farmers and producers. Rural and farming communities across Essex are encouraged to report machinery thefts, anti-social behaviour, hare coursing and other crimes through the Essex Police website: www.essex.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/
Last year the Rural Engagement team successfully managed 66 unauthorised encampments across Essex, and dealt with 43 incidents of hare coursing in the district – a 34% reduction from the previous year.
Commenting, Mrs Badenoch said:
“Ride-alongs allow me to see first-hand the incidents our local officers are responding to across the constituency.
“It was great to be joined by our excellent Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst, to hear more about some of the measures Essex Police are taking to tackle rural crime and improve visibility in our towns and villages.
“Thank you to Roger and our officers at Essex Police for all their hard work protecting our local communities.”
Commenting, PFCC for Essex Roger Hirst said:
“I was pleased to join Kemi Badenoch MP on a tour of Chelmsford villages.
“During the tour we discussed police visibility in rural areas and recent successes from the Essex Police Rural Engagement Team, such as a 6.5% decrease in all rural crime in the 12 months to December 2023 and 15.9% year-on-year reduction to end of December 2023 in hare coursing across the county.
“There has also been a 75% reduction in unauthorised traveller encampments in the county over the past five years.”
