The MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale has raised considerable concerns over the policing of rural crime, calling on the government to step up its efforts in protecting countryside communities.
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, has recently taken to the House of Commons in Westminster to raise the issue of rural policing with ministers.
On January 5, Mr Farron asked Sarah Jones, Minister of State for Policing and Crime, whether it was time for the government to ‘think again’ about how seriously it took the issue.
He asked whether dedicated rural crime policing teams should have a boost in personnel numbers in the future, pointing to data he had found which highlighted that Cumbria’s rural crime team only had 5 dedicated officers in 2024.
The minister said in response that the increase of 3,000 police officers by next March would cover all areas across the nation.
In a statement to this newspaper about the issue, Mr Farron said: “People who live in very rural communities are subject not only to crime, but to an even more concentrated sense of the fear of crime, because they know that they could be 20 or 30 miles away from the nearest officer.
“And yet only five officers in 2024 were allocated to Cumbria’s rural crime team.
“It’s time this Government took rural crime seriously and invested in the resources needed to protect residents and to support our hard-working police officers.”
The Home Office were contacted for comment regarding the issue.
In response to Mr Farron’s calls for more to be done about rural crime in Cumbria, the region's police force called the issue a ‘key focus’ of theirs.
However, the constabulary pushed back against the MP's claims that it only had a small team dedicated to policing such crime, stating that rural crime is not ‘tackled’ by only one team.
“Rural Policing in Cumbria is supported by the six neighbourhood policing teams and the wider constabulary who work together to keep our communities safe,” said a Cumbria Police spokesperson.
They continued: “Neighbourhood Policing continues to be a priority in Cumbria with an additional 26 named Community Beat Officers (CBO) being placed across the county before the end of March 2026 – raising the number of CBOs from 58 to 84.”
Police said that residents can even find who their local bobbies are by visiting its website.
The constabulary said its dedicated rural crime team ‘provides specialist support and advice’ to the rest of the force and has even travelled outside of Cumbria to bring ‘offenders to justice’.
Sarah Kitching, an NFU Mutual Senior Agent and Group Secretary based in Kendal, said she and her team ‘witness first-hand the impact and devastation that rural crime brings’ to the rural community.
Ms Kitching said she sees ‘not only the financial loss, but also the emotional strain [rural crime] causes’.
The senior NFU figure said for her members ‘to stay vigilant’ and always report to the police suspicious behaviour.
The Cumbrian senior agent also highlighted how ‘a highly effective WhatsApp group’ had been set up by farmers and others living rurally as an ‘invaluable tool’ to battle rural crime by sharing suspicious activity.
Ms Kitching called the group chat ‘a strong deterrent’.
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