Residents in York and across the wider county are invited to share their views on rural and wildlife crime during an online public meeting hosted by North Yorkshire Police on 21 May 2026. Running from 2pm to 4pm, the session provides an opportunity for the public to learn about ongoing police activity and help shape local policing priorities.
The meeting will be chaired by Jo Coles, the Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime, who holds the police force to account on behalf of the public. Attendees will have the chance to hear directly from Chief Constable Tim Forber and other senior officers regarding efforts to manage crime in rural areas. The discussion is part of the force’s broader public accountability efforts, specifically focusing on a topic that emerged as a key priority in the Police and Crime Plan for 2025-2029.
North Yorkshire presents a unique challenge for law enforcement, as 85% of the county is classified as very rural or super-sparse. It is the largest single county police service in England, serving over 818,000 residents across a vast landscape where the population density is significantly lower than the national average. Because of this rural nature, the region has been identified as a hotspot for specific criminal activity, including being the top area in the UK for quad bike thefts and third for GPS equipment thefts.
To address these issues, the police use a dedicated Rural Task Force, which was first launched in 2016 and re-launched in 2022 to provide more focused, intelligence-led operations. Efforts include tackling four specific categories of rural crime: agricultural, equine, wildlife, and heritage. Recent initiatives have shown success, such as the Safer Streets programme, which distributed 8,000 property marking kits to over 1,500 farms. Data indicates that farms using these kits were 96% less likely to be targeted, contributing to a 30% reduction in quad bike thefts across the region.
National attention on the issue remains high, with the government recently announcing over £800,000 in funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the National Rural Crime Unit. Residents interested in joining the discussion can find more information about the meeting and how to attend on the official police website.
About this article: This story was put together with the help of AI tools and checked by a real person on our team. We're a small crew trying to cover as much of the UK as we can on a limited budget. We're getting better every day - but we're not perfect yet. If something looks off, let us know. You're part of the process.
