FARMERS in the Driffield area are being urged to join an organisation designed to combat countryside crime
Police are bidding to clamp down on rural crime after a spate of incidents in village areas outside the town.
Following a rise in scrap metal prices thieves have turned their attention to any metal they can take to then sell on for profit.
Over the recent months there have been thefts of fork lift tines left in fold yards, metal field gates unhinged from posts, machinery parts ripped out of unattended equipment and jewellery taken from insecure farm houses.
Fuel theft is also becoming a real problem in boith village and town areas.
The massive price increase in Diesel and oil has made it a profitable commodity to steal.
Now police are urging land owners to farm watch scheme, which encourages everyone in the farming community to be vigilant and to report anything suspicious to the police.
It also encourages members to pool knowledge.
People who live in the farming community have a much specialised knowledge which even the police may find hard to achieve.
Farmers in the Driffield area who would like to join The Farmwatch scheme or would like more information and advice, should contact the Neighbourhood Policing Team by phoning the non emergency 101 number and asking for PCSO Sue Edmond at the Driffield Police Station.
She is the police contact for Farmwatch in this area.