Wealden is a great place to live and has consistently low levels of crime. Despite this, there are occasional incidents of anti-social behaviour, domestic violence and rural crime taking place across the constituency.
I am in regular contact with Sussex Police and our District Commander Alasdair Henry to discuss individual cases of constituents, farmers, and local businesses who have reached out to me regarding local crime. I have previously raised fly tipping, dog theft, and rural crime with the Sussex Police and I have worked with them to tackle incidents of domestic violence.
šØ Rural crime meeting - autumn 2021 šØ
As the winter months are usually of most concern, I convened a meeting with representatives from Sussex and Kent Police forces to discuss incidents of rural crime in north Wealden. Iām incredibly grateful to Sussex Police for their hard work and commitment to ensuring that they have visible presence locally and I was pleased to hear that there are ongoing multi-agency efforts involving Sussex Police, Kent Police and Surrey Police to track criminals moving across counties.
š New Police Station in Crowborough š
I'm pleased to have supported the opening of a new police station in Crowborough in September 2021. The new police station is fantastic news for Crowborough. It is a great asset and Iām pleased that the neighbourhood policing team and the rural crime team can continue to grow from strength to strength and support our communities. This new location provides a more accessible and visible police presence to help to keep communities in Crowborough and north Wealden safe and deliver a better service. I look forward to working very closely with the expanded team based in Crowborough.
š¶ Pet Theft Task Force established š¶
A Pet Theft Taskforce has been launched to work with the police to investigate the recent reported rise in pet theft since the start of lockdown. I have previously met with Sussex Police to discuss the matter and despite growing incidents of this dreadful crime across the country, I was pleased to learn that dog theft is not a widespread issue in Wealden. I am grateful to our local Rural Crime Team for leading the work on preventing pet thefts in Wealden and across Sussex.
The Task Force published a report setting out plans to tackle the issue of pet theft and how we will crack down on this abhorrent crime, including making pet theft a specific criminal offence, improving recording and data collection of pet thefts by police forces and introducing new requirements to register more details on microchip databases.
We have a thriving and dynamic rural economy in Wealden, and rural crime has been a major issue to many of our farmers and food producers. To tackle rural crime, a multi-agency response is currently underway and Sussex Police has increased its presence and patrol activity across the region to deal with incidents speedily and effectively.
I am incredibly grateful to Sussex Police for their hard work and I am pleased our officers remain committed to ensuring they have visible presence in Wealden and continue to make Wealden a safer place to live.
I can assure Wealden residents that any criminal activity will be met with the full force of the law and urge them to report any concerns to the police.
