MAJOR Patrick Darling, Herefordshire High Sheriff, hosted a Rural Crime & Herefordshire conference at his Caradoc home last Thursday afternoon. The event was jointly organised by Major Darling, with top level representatives from West Mercia Police, The Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia, and Herefordshire NFU.

Rural crime is often the poor relation when it comes to crime reporting, alongside headline-grabbing reports of murder, armed robbery or terrorism, rural crime can pale into insignificance. This, said Major Darling in his opening address, has to change. "Rural crime has to take its place among other priorities." The purpose of the afternoon was to find ways of addressing this, to look to the future and form tangible working partnerships with the police and the farming and rural communities.

Chief Constable of West Mercia Police, David Shaw, was frank with the audience and said: "The problem of rural crime probably hasn't received the focus and priority it deserves. Today, however, is the start of significant change." Of course, the £30 million in cuts West Mercia has had to take was on many people's minds. It will be a challenge he said, "but in many respects we are doing our job better than before."

For the full story please see this week's Ross Gazette.