Rural crime survey supports call for fair funding

Preliminary findings from the National Rural Crime Survey support calls for Fair Funding for Devon and Cornwall Police.

Although the full results are yet to be released, initial findings from the rural crime survey of over 17,000 people in England and Wales indicate that victims in rural areas have a lower perception of policing than the national average.

Tony Hogg, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall said

“The early indications from this wide-ranging survey go to confirm my position that policing in rural areas faces particular challenges.

“Areas such as Devon and Cornwall are disadvantaged because the funding formula takes no account of the complexity of providing effective policing over a vast rural area.”

Tony Hogg was speaking at the release of the early findings from the National Rural Crime Survey on the BBC Countryfile programme on Sunday 19 July.

“The results illustrate the challenge of policing rural communities,” he said.

“Rural areas suffer from mainstream offending but we should never forget the greater risk of hidden crime victimhood such as domestic abuse and sexual violence because that can something be exacerbated by rurality.”

The full results will be released in due course.

Anyone who lives in a rural community that is concerned about the future of policing can sign the Fair Funding petition here.