Officers from South Yorkshire Police’s response, neighbourhood and CSI teams received additional training last week, to bolster the Force’s response to rural and wildlife crime.

The training covered a number of topics, including birds of prey, hare coursing, deer poaching and theft of plant machinery and vehicles. This will allow South Yorkshire’s officers to act swiftly, when required, in rural areas of the county.

Motorcycle and Rural Crime Team Sergeant James Shirley said: “This is the largest training cohort into rural and wildlife crime SYP has undertaken. These officers will now all help with our efforts across the county.”

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Dr Alan Billings added: “Residents within rural communities often contact me about the impact rural crimes have on their communities, and their fear of crime due to the remote nature of where they live.

“I am pleased to see that training has been provided to so many officers working within these communities and hope that we can grow and develop this network of officers over the coming months and years.”

Tackling rural crime is one of the areas of focus in the PCC’s Police and Crime Plan.