She said:
“This report from NFU Mutual reinforces the findings of our National Rural Crime Survey that crime is a significant challenge for our rural communities and businesses. While this report has stark numbers on the cost of crime, this is only the tip of the iceberg. We know many crimes in rural communities go unreported – especially by business owners, because they don’t feel the offence will be taken seriously or anything will be done, and our survey also found that, for the same reasons, only around a quarter of crimes are reported to insurers.
“The National Rural Crime Network believes we need to do more to understand rural crime and its impact, and put that understanding into practice. For too long the needs of rural residents and businesses have been ignored by those in positions of power – that needs to change and we’ll be working with partners like the NFU to ensure that happens.”
- The NFU Mutual report can be found at at nfumutual.co.uk/ruralcrime
- The National Rural Crime Survey report and recommendations can be found at nationalruralcrimenetwork.net/survey
