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Police: Rural Areas

Asked by Jim ShannonDemocratic Unionist PartyHome OfficeTabled Answered 18 June 2026UIN 10128

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure localised rural crime teams are supported.

Answered by Sarah Jones

This Government is introducing the most radical and comprehensive policing reforms in nearly 200 years. This will support it to tackle cross-border crimes like wildlife crime and organised equipment theft, while also restoring neighbourhood policing.

With the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee every neighbourhood, rural or urban, now gets named and contactable officers dedicated to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour locally. Every rural area will also be covered by a Local Policing Area under a commander responsible for emergency response, local crime investigation and neighbourhood policing. They will be set targets to ensure they answer 90% of 999 calls within 10 seconds and attend 90% of the most serious incidents within 20 minutes in rural areas.

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