When it comes to combatting crime, the rural community operates under slightly different challenges than its often-urban counterparts in retail, hospitality or general business.
Out of town locations and physical isolation coupled with high value machinery and livestock have made rural businesses an unfortunate target for organised crime gangs, who are operating at higher levels than ever before in organised, serious and persistent targeting of rural businesses. Loss to the sector was estimated at an eye-watering £44.1 million pounds in 2024, according to the National Farmers Union Mutual Rural Crime Report 2025.
The impact is particularly strongly felt – from financial loss of high value machinery and tech, to impacted crop or food production, and with many homes in farm locations, the threat of a repeat or return offender comes with added personal stress and an adverse impact on mental health, especially for family businesses.
Although rural policing is making great strides in the recovery of stolen machinery (an estimated £12.7 million recovered in 2025, according to the National Farmers Union), here at UKPAC we understand overcoming the physical barriers and keeping our rural communities connected is the way we can come together to unite against the impact of rural crime.
Reporting of crime, sharing information and intelligence lies at the heart of UKPAC membership, with our members able to report crimes directly to relevant authorities via our UKPAC Crime Hub, who in turn collate all intelligence to build a big picture of crime activity, enabling targeted and co-ordinated responses. Regular timely security alerts, crime prevention advice, and police updates also ensure ensures rural businesses and landowners stay informed and better prepared for emerging threats.
The sharing of intelligence between members is particularly powerful in out of town locations – through GDPR-compliant, real-time alerts and secure messaging, members can warn each other about suspicious vehicles, potential threats, and recurring incidents — building a stronger, more informed rural network between themselves as well as with local authorities.
Most recently, our brand new ‘Eyes On’ App is further set to facilitate rural two-way engagement between users and police, after an initial rollout across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in Spring 2026. Key features that have led to it being welcomed by the rural community include a user-friendly secure ‘chat’ facility between users and police, crime reports readily submitted in a police compliant format, and precise rural mapping enabled by the use of modern systems such as ‘What 3 Words’ to clearly locate and map activity.
‘Eyes On’ furthers the focus of reporting in the UKPAC Crime Hub to encourage the sharing of news, risks and concerns alongside reports, images and CCTV of offenders and the damages occurred to shape a more proactive community and shape intelligence and direct police to the right areas at the right times to enable the best police response in regions where geographical distance can cause delay.
For the rural community – the threats of crime are not necessarily new, but the rise in technology, high value assets and advanced targeting of rural businesses has driven the need for more modern tools to keep our communities connected. With 24/7 access, and two way sharing of information and the hoped successful adoption of tools such as Eyes On, will support the rural community in building a network that together will stand stronger against the impact of rural crime.
Find out more here about our work with the rural community and how UKPAC membership is helping a growing community of rural business stay connected.