Essex Police Launch Rural Advisory Group to Address Unique Community Challenges

We’re working closely with our rural communities and listening to their concerns by setting up the first Essex Rural Independent Advisory Group. Borne out of a meeting between our Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington, local farmers and the National Farmers’ Union, the Rural IAG will provide a direct line of communication between our rural communities and Essex Police.

Superintendent Darren Deex says: “Setting up a Rural IAG was one of the Chief’s promises to our rural communities after he met with local farmers and the NFU. The first meeting is due to take place in early September so it really is a case of ‘you said, we did’.“We know rural communities face unique challenges, so we must work with them, not just for them, to improve confidence and tackle issues and crimes which affect them.“Setting up the Rural IAG will help us to do this by bringing together people who live and work in our rural communities for open, honest conversations about what matters to them.“This will help the force shape our response to rural crime and policing, now and in the future, and to identify emerging issues and developing crime trends.“We expect to be challenged by members when we don’t get it right and to work on practical solutions with them.” Uttlesford farmer Matt Register welcomes the new Rural IAG.

He says: “It’s a fantastic idea. The Rural IAG will really help the rural community.

And I think it will help Essex Police to better understand rural life because farming is not a job, it’s a way of life.“I know that, from the outside, it can sometimes be difficult to fully appreciate the effects rural crime has on farmers and the rural community. It brings fear, intimidation and distress."That’s why I hope that, by working together with Essex Police – who I have the utmost respect for – the Rural IAG will help strengthen relationships between the police and our rural community, enabling us to learn from one another and work together to reduce rural crime." In May, Mr Harrington pledged to improve the force’s response to rural crime and hare coursing, in particular.

He said at the time: “The Essex Police Rural Engagement Team does an excellent job dealing with this issue and has had some good results securing charges and seizing vehicles.“But I know there is more we can do to improve our immediate response to calls.” Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst says of the move: "Rural communities are impacted by specific forms of anti-social behaviour and crime.

The police response must recognise that and be able to work with rural communities to increase confidence."That is why establishing a Rural Independent Advisory Group is so important. By bringing together members of our Rural Crime Forum and representatives from across the rural community, it will help provide valuable insight, constructive challenge and independent scrutiny."Working closely with those who live and work in rural Essex means we can strengthen trust, improve communication and ensure policing continues to meet the needs of our rural communities." Our Rural Engagement Team is currently delivering specialised training to local policing teams, who are usually the first officers to respond to calls about hare coursing in progress.

This will be followed by refresher training for our neighbourhood policing teams. Inspector Terry Jacobs says: “We are sharing our team’s specialist knowledge of how hare coursers operate and the specific legislation relating to this barbaric crime.“We’re also reminding them of what policing powers they have to disrupt and deter hare coursers, such as issuing banning orders and seizing vehicles and dogs.” Response officers and neighbourhood policing officers in Braintree and Uttlesford are also being trained to drive 4x4 vehicles off-road and two more 4x4s have been made available in the Uttlesford district.

Improving communications is key and members of the Essex Rural Crime Forum will now be meeting with our Rural Engagement Team each month. Terry explains: “We want to hear their concerns, explain how we can support them and identify pressing issues affecting victims and the wider rural community so we can resolve them quickly.” All this will supplement the work our Rural Engagement Team already undertakes in our rural communities and on our rural roads.

But we can’t do it without everyone’s help, Terry stresses. “We rely on reports from the public to identify emerging crime trends and to provide evidence to build good cases which will lead to successful prosecutions.“If we don’t know about it, we can’t take action.

So please, if you have any information about a crime or anti-social behaviour, tell us.“You can report it online via our website or, if it’s a crime in progress or someone’s in danger, ring 999. You can also contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, online or by calling 0800 555 111.“Please, provide as much information as you can – in the case of hare coursing, for example, a What3Words location, a description of the people involved, vehicle registration numbers, vehicle descriptions.

However, it is very important that you don’t confront suspects or put yourself at risk.” Rural crime has fallen overall across Essex in the past year, including a halving of incidents where machinery has been stolen, but there was a marked rise in incidents of hare coursing compared with previous years. Since August 2025, our Rural Engagement Team has seized seven vehicles believed to be involved in hare coursing and issued seven community protection notices (CPNs), and five community protection warnings (CPWs), with 12 individuals dealt with.

Independent Advisory Groups are panels of volunteers who provide impartial feedback, community perspectives and constructive challenges to police forces to improve trust, ensure fair policing practices and promote equality. Members raise issues of concern or community tension with police and provide a critical analysis of policing policy and practice.

As well as the new Rural IAG, Essex Police also has a Strategic IAG, which looks at forcewide policing issues, and ten district IAGs which look at more local issues. Share