Rural communities can have equipment marked with an invisible DNA code at event near Morpeth

Having recently celebrated their third anniversary, Northumbria Police’s dedicated Rural Crime Team have been making inroads in a bid to protect rural communities and fight rural crime.

The Northumberland Partnership Against Rural Crime (NPARC) has previously teamed up with NFU Mutual and SelectaDNA to roll out the new marking system, which has seen hundreds of thousands of pounds of equipment tagged.

Having already hosted events in the Lucker and Hexham areas, the specialist technology will now be brought to Scots Gap on Wednesday, November 1 from 9.30am.

Farmers and members of rural communities are invited to attend Robson & Cowan to have their all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), trailers and other agricultural equipment marked with an invisible DNA code.

This will allow police to spot any stolen marked property that thieves may be attempting to sell on and identify its rightful owner.

Officers from the force’s Rural Policing Team will also be on hand to offer crime prevention advice, with neighbourhood officers there to answer any concerns around rural crime.

Rural crime project manager Sandra Killeen, of Northumbria Police, said: “We are inviting our rural communities to come to the event next week with any ATVs, quad bikes, trailers and other valuable equipment that is exactly the type of thing we regularly see thieves target.

“We will then be able to tag their equipment with a specialist unique invisible code, which will help us identify stolen property and allow it to be successfully returned to the owners.

“Although, most importantly, it will allow us to take swift action against those preying on our rural communities.

“Now that autumn has very much arrived, this is exactly the time for those living in the outskirts of the region to review and inventory their farming and agricultural kit – and bring it to us to be marked up.”

NPARC is made up by a number of partners including the force’s Rural Policing Team, the National Farmers Union, NFU Mutual, Northumberland County Council, Northumberland National Park, Mountain Rescue, Forestry England and Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service.

To book a space at the DNA marking event, email [email protected]