Police and Crime Commissioners lead campaign to tackle rural crime in the south west

• The south wests’ PCC’s have joined together through Operation Ragworth to target rural Organised Crime Groups
• The operation will see a co-ordinated campaign to gather and coordinate intelligencefrom communities across the region
• Chris Nelson, the PCC for Gloucester, said “We all have rural communities which we need to protect, this requirement remands that we strengthen cross-border activity to make the south west no place for rural crime”

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC’s) across the south west have joined together to lead a new campaign and bring together all police forces in the region to combat the involvement of Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) in rural crime.

Under the new initiative known as Operation Ragwort, the OCGs who target rural communities and are at the forefront of crimes such as burglary, theft of farm vehicles and equipment, poaching and hare coursing, will be the focus of a regional, co-ordinated, campaign led by the south west region’s Police and Crime Commissioners.

Chris Nelson, the PCC for Gloucestershire, said that: “All five Commissioners in the South West are great at working together on many law and order issues.  We already have strong co-operation tackling illegal drugs, and we will soon have a five-force operation to tackle high value acquisitive crime in our precious rural areas, building on our strong rural campaigns within our own boundaries.

“We all have vast areas of countryside and many isolated and vulnerable rural communities which we need to nurture and protect. This requirement demands that we strengthen our cross-border activity to prevent organised crime groups operating across our region, to make the south west no place for rural crime.”

As the south west’s response to serious, organised, acquisitive crimes and rural crime, Ragwort will utilise and coordinate intelligence from our smallest communities through to local policing areas and across to other force areas and national and international borders.

The National Rural Crime Network has commissioned research into this link between rural crime and organised criminal gangs, and preliminary evidence suggests that rural crime is being used by gangs to fund other criminal activities including links to the international drugs trade.

With this in mind, Operation Ragwort hopes to build upon the successful partnership work in the south-west which is being done to disrupt the illegal drugs in the region, which was launched in 2021 as Operation Scorpion.

Wiltshire’s PCC, Philip Wilkinson said that Ragwort – with mutual support and cooperation across the south west – will provide an intelligence-rich picture of the level of criminality enabling all south west forces to better disrupt and apprehend those responsible, making the region safer for rural residents.

Wiltshire’s Police Assistant Chief Constable Mark Cooper said: “Rural communities are all too often victims of opportunist theft yet, over recent years, there has been a distinct shift towards Organised Crime Groups moving in to steal high-value items such as vehicles and electronics.

“By working across our borders in a clear and supportive way to share intelligence, Operation Ragwort provides the right framework to make this happen and bring offenders to justice.

“As rural crimes are often under reported we seek to increase public engagement and encourage reporting across the region and build the intelligence picture.”

“Our rural communities must feel empowered, recognised and confident in the Police who are working with them and with partners to make the countryside safe and welcoming for residents and visitors alike.”