The East Lothian Partnership Against Rural Crime has celebrated their one-year anniversary after launching at Adniston Farm, Macmerry in January last year.

The partnership was originally formed in response to concerns about thefts and property fires in East Lothian’s rural communities, with the intention of ensuring farmers take the necessary steps to safeguard their businesses.

Regular strategic meetings have been held over the last year which focus on delivering a Rural Crime Plan and prioritising key areas of concern highlighted by parties including rural theft, fly tipping, malicious fire-raising, hare coursing, poaching, livestock attack and distress and anti-social off road biking.

Subgroups were created to focus on these individual issues, tasked with coming up with prevention and enforcement plans to deal with incidents.

ELPARC has made strong progress in raising awareness of Hare Coursing over the past 12 months which has resulted in a rise in reports to the police and four arrests. Police Constable Lynn Black commented: “Hare Coursing can often go on ‘in plain sight’ and can simply appear as people exercising their dogs in fields. A lot of work has gone on to highlight this illegal and cruel activity through the partnership involving newspaper articles and placing signs up in public places to educate the general public. The aim is to highlight the problem and educate the public on what Hare Coursing actually is – a barbaric sport participated by serious and organised criminals.”

On the prevention front, ELPARC has attended many events throughout the year including the East Lothian Agricultural show, the East Lothian Partnership Forum, where it hosted a workshop and supporting the 16 days of action against violence against women. Further engagement sessions are planned for the coming year, including a series of road shows throughout the rural communities of the county.

The work carried out by ELPARC has been described as ‘trailblazing’ by Police Scotland’s National Rural Crime Unit, with several other local authorities throughout Scotland replicating ELPARC’s structure and rural crime plan in their own areas.

The initial meeting at Adniston Farm in January 2019 was attended by over 70 people, most of which came from the surrounding farming community, and was chaired by Derek Oliver of East Lothian council. It also saw the launch of Rural Watch, which alerts users to local issues and criminal activity. Rural Watch Scotland is an extension of Neighbourhood Watch Scotland and is focused on bringing rural communities together, building resilience and encouraging communities to look out for each other with regards to issues of crime and safety. In the last 5 months ELPARC have sent out 18 targeted Alerts on crime related issues to 5072 direct individuals within East Lothian, reaching approximately 15,000 end users.

ELPARC includes representation from Police Scotland and East Lothian Council, but also a number of key contributors including NFU Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Neighbourhood Watch Scotland, Scottish Land and Estates, Network Rail, British Transport Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Scottish Water, SEPA, Marine Scotland, RSPB, and SSPCA.