OFFICERS from East Hampshire’s Neighbourhood Policing Team have launched a new campaign to target criminals carrying out rural crime in the district.

Operation Rebate East will see targeted days of action involving officers from various teams across the force.

Officers will also set up a new Rural Crime Tactical Board, to bring rural communities together and share information on current trends, policing operations and the latest crime prevention advice.

Acting Sergeant Dan Ross, from Alton police station, said: “We are very aware how devastating rural crime can be to people’s lives and livelihoods, and it is a district priority.

“Our focus will be on burglaries at residential properties in rural areas, such as barns and outbuildings, and business burglaries, such as at farms.

“We have seen rural burglaries recently in the district, with a common MO being groups of two to four people committing offences overnight and using high-powered 4x4s with cloned number plates, or no number plates at all.

“Op Rebate East will draw on the work carried out by our colleagues in the north-east of the county, where days of action involved officers from Country Watch, neighbourhood policing teams, response and patrol and bordering police forces.

“We aim to regularly update our communities on any activity we carry out, and we will look to hold dedicated rural crime beat surgeries on our East Hants Police Facebook page.”