The days when you left the doors unlocked and the key in the ignition are long gone in the countryside
This article from the Mail reminds us that crime is a significant issue in rural England. It tells us
“Theft of heating oil is a pretty despicable crime, given that it might affect vulnerable people – the elderly, women with children – who will be left to shiver through the winter. But it’s on the rise: yet another example of the way in which crooks are targeting as what they see as easy pickings in rural areas. Anything which can be pinched, it seems, will be. Lead has been going from church roofs for years. Recently, some nefarious types have been committing what is virtually a sacrilege against war memorials. They’ll stop at nothing.
The countryside used to be a place where you left the doors of house unlocked and the key in the ignition of the car; to do otherwise might cast a slur on your neighbours. Those days disappeared 20 years ago.
I have featured a number of reflections on rural crime in previous Hinterland stories. The key point is not to take the “volume” based view, which bedevils much thinking about rural issues by policy makers and leads to the analysis that overall it is not very significant and to reflect instead that it is often different from urban crime and needs a different response.
My friend Gerard McElwee has just had a new thoughtful article published setting out some of these issues – drop me an email and I will send it to you.