Police across Hampshire are continuing to bring the fight to rural criminals operating in the county.

Offenders have been making use of the darker evenings throughout autumn and winter to target fields, isolated communities, and rural estates to commit crime. 

This has involved rural properties being burgled, with power tools, quad bikes and farm machinery being stolen, in addition to offences targeting our county’s wildlife including poaching and hare coursing.

Last week, a number of farms in the areas surrounding Stratfield Saye and rural Basingstoke in particular were burgled.

On Thursday 9 January, Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya joined officers on a proactive operation across the county with the objective of disrupting criminals involved in this type of offending. The operation ran overnight into the early hours of Friday morning (10 January), covering the rural towns, villages, estates and country roads in the districts of Basingstoke, Test Valley, Winchester, Hart, and East Hampshire.

Read on here for more information about what teams got up to during the operation: https://www.hampshire.police.uk/news/hampshire/news/news/2025/january/police-across-the-county-continue-to-bring-the-fight-to-rural-criminals/