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Asked by:
Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged:
11 August 2020
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Current status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what initiatives it has introduced since January 2020 to help lower levels of rural crime, and what further measures it plans.
The Scottish Government is a member of the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC), a multi-agency group chaired by Police Scotland which is committed to tackling crime in Scotland's rural communities. SPARC's Rural Crime Strategy 2019-2022 sets out seven key operational priorities, with associated action plans which include indicators of success and timescales. SPARC works closely with rural communities to build awareness of rural crime, and to promote action.
Specific initiatives which have been taken forward through SPARC this year include:
- The development of a partnership involving Police Scotland Dumfries and Galloway and Lothian and Borders policing divisions with Northumbria, Cumbria and County Durham Constabularies to target transient criminals located in the North East of England involved in rural crime in both Scotland and England;
- Designing a model at the location of Whitelee Windfarm to prevent and tackle rural crime in areas of forestry on which windfarms are present, working alongside Forestry and Land Scotland, and Scottish Power; and
- Ongoing work with Police Scotland's Air Support Unit to explore prevention initiatives through the high profile overt use of the drone equipment.