Police forces should make greater use of technology to combat serious and organised crime in rural areas, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones has told MPs.
Jones gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee as part of its inquiry into the impact of serious and organised crime, warning that rural communities can be particularly vulnerable because of their isolated locations.
She said organised crime groups exploit rural areas for offences including machinery theft, drug production and storage, firearms smuggling, fly-tipping, poaching and human exploitation.
Jones told the committee: “We are never going to have enough police officers to target this. It’s about working smarter not harder.”
She added that policing had been “a bit slow” nationally in exploiting technology in rural communities.
CCTV and community drone pilot
The PCC highlighted investment in mobile deployable CCTV cameras for farmers and landowners, as well as what her office describes as the country’s first community drone pilot.
The scheme, launched last month, allows trained community volunteers to be deployed through the police control room to provide drone support at live incidents in rural areas.
Jones said partnership working with local communities was essential.
“By working with willing communities, we should be further exploiting technology to give them the tools they need to make them safer,” she said.
“We need to make sure we are adapting alongside the SOC gang model to make sure rural communities are not left vulnerable.”
Since 2021, the PCC’s office says it has also introduced a Rural Crime Taskforce, placed local officers in rural areas, opened front counters and invested in specialist vehicles, detectives, analysts and the EyesOn crime-reporting app.
Jones said the investment had helped improve charge rates, although she acknowledged further work was needed.
