Last week Country Watch officers teamed up with MOD colleagues to patrol areas around Longmoor, Bordon and Bramshott.

These areas have experienced incidents where motorbikes and quadbikes have been cutting across MOD land in order to access rural areas, where we suspect they are then carrying out offences such as non-dwelling burglaries, poaching and hare coursing.

Police teams across the county have recently been carrying out proactive operations to disrupt criminals operating in rural areas throughout Hampshire. The patrols on MOD land are just another element towards tackling this, and aim to target criminals using the area as a cut through.

These patrols will continue.

In addition to this, the MOD is also warning the public about the risks of accessing MOD land when military training is taking place.

During the patrols last week no vehicles were found using the land, however a member of the public on foot was spoken with as they were walking on the land whilst military training was taking place.

Remember that if there is military activity underway, then there is no right of access for the public until the military exercises have finished. The Byelaws do not permit access for any vehicles at any time.  

Please respect MOD land, and the Byelaws that are there to protect the military and the public. The MOD’s message for people accessing MOD land in and around Longmoor, Bordon and Bramshott is clear; the public should only access military training areas when and where it is safe to do so and should exercise caution at all times. To help keep themselves and their loved ones safe, the MOD is asking the public to follow these simple steps:
 

For further information about accessing MOD land safely visit the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safe-access

We are determined to tackle crime in rural areas, and urge our communities to keep reporting any information about offences or suspicious activity in rural areas to us. Any bit of information we receive helps us get a better idea of what is going on, so that we can target our resources accordingly.

In particular, we would like to hear from people who have seen quad bikes being driven in rural areas in suspicious circumstances, such as in convoy and at night.

You can report information to police by calling 101, or via the report tool at www.hampshire.police.uk 

Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers 100% anonymously on 0800 555 111, or via their anonymous online form at crimestoppers-uk.org 

If a crime is in progress, call 999 immediately. 

If you are a member of DISC you can also use this platform to provide information to the police. If you have a business connection to the rural and wildlife environment, you may be eligible to be a member of DISC. Please email discreports@hampshire.police.uk

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