York and North Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime, Jo Coles, has reiterated her commitment to tackling rural crime during this year’s National Rural Crime Week of Action.
This year’s National Rural Crime Week of Action focusses on the experiences of victims of rural crime, who are often overlooked and ignored.
The Deputy Mayor praised North Yorkshire Police for their role in a Combined Authority-funded project providing DNA marking kits, allowing people to invisibly mark their property and aiding in its retrieval in the case of theft while deterring criminals from
targeting properties taking part in the scheme.
The Combined Authority has provided 8,000 DNA kits to more than 1,500 farms, representing the largest roll-out of its kind in the UK. Since the start of the scheme in 2024 through to April 2025, only three farms using the kits had been targeted, with a 30%
reduction in quad bike theft also being noted.
Similarly, the NFU’s most recent rural crime report found that overall crime in North Yorkshire’s countryside had fallen by over 22% compared to last year.
Jo Coles, Deputy Mayor for Policing Fire and Crime said:
The Mayor David Skaith and I, are determined to do everything we can to keep everyone in our region safe.
Last year, from October to December, there were 900 incidents reported including poaching, wildlife crime, criminal damage, domestic abuse and violence. Whether it’s the theft of expensive agricultural equipment, fly tipping along our roads and in
our woodlands, or the theft of valuable livestock, these all have a big impact on our communities.Over the last year I’ve seen the impact the Rural Taskforce is having in North Yorkshire, whether it’s local community WhatsApp groups sharing vital intelligence or the marking of valuable farm equipment, that has had a huge impact too.
National Rural Crime Action Week is an opportunity to reiterate our commitment to tackling rural crime and of the work taking place alongside North Yorkshire Police to tackle rural crime.
