The Countryside Alliance launches its annual Rural Crime Survey

The largest-ever annual survey into crime in rural areas has been launched once again in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to investigate the true level of crime in the countryside. The Countryside Alliance rural crime survey is calling for people who work or live in rural areas to come forward and give their views on countryside crimes, the impact they have on the wider community and to help shape the future of crime prevention and rural policing. Click here to take part.

We believe the true extent of rural crime is underreported which is why it is important that everyone who lives and works in rural areas takes the time to respond to this survey. 

The 2022 rural crime survey showed that the overwhelming majority of rural communities see crime as a significant problem in their area and half believe police are not taking crime seriously, some 97 per cent of those surveyed from across the UK, said that rural crime was a "significant" issue in their community.

The survey of 2,016 people found that 49 per cent did not think the police take rural crime seriously, and 90 per cent had not seen any police officers in their area in the last week.

The survey will be open until Sunday 5 November and to complete the survey, you just need to click here. 

The threat of crime can be as detrimental to people's feeling of safety as crimes themselves and we also want to build a clear picture of the issue to shape future policing delivery and ensure funding is spent where it is most needed, rather than simply being channelled to urban conurbations. The ultimate aim is to make rural communities safer.