Day of action to keep rural roads in Braintree and Uttlesford safe

Officers carried out patrols and checked the speeds of hundreds of vehicles across a day of action aimed at keeping rural roads across Braintree and Uttlesford safe.

On Wednesday 20 December, Braintree and Uttlesford Community Policing Team, together with our Rural Engagement Team, kept a watchful eye over the districts, focusing on rural crime and traffic enforcement.

This day of action utilised data showing areas and roads particularly vulnerable to serious or fatal collisions.

Officers engaged with members of the public and carried out a range of checks, including nine ‘100 checks’ – monitoring the speed of 100 vehicles across a single session.

We also:

• Submitted six pieces of intelligence for further monitoring.
• Stopped 27 vehicles.
• Issued nine Traffic Offence Reports for further investigation.
• Recovered two broken down vehicles.
• Recovered one vehicle for having no insurance.
• Attended four ongoing incidents.
• Conducted one site visit.

'Rural crime is our focus'

Inspector Philip Jackson, of Braintree and Uttlesford Community Policing Team, said:

“Rural crime continues to be a focus for our local community policing team as well as our colleagues in the rural engagement team.
“We will continue to conduct joint patrols in the future to prevent and detect crimes, but also to be a visible presence for the residents of our more rural areas of Uttlesford district and beyond.
“During our operation officers dealt with a number of traffic matters including speed checks, road traffic collisions and provided a high-visibility presence to disrupt cross-border criminality in the area.
“We will continue such operations in the future and work with our partners to reduce crime within Braintree and Uttlesford.”

Our Rural Engagement Team have an understanding about how a rural community works.They investigate crimes like theft of agricultural vehicles and technical equipment and hare coursing. The team also work to prevent and deter rural crime too. 

Working with partner agencies, they take enforcement action against those who are intent on causing harm to our rural communities. 

For more about rural crime and advice on how to prevent yourself from becoming a victim, please visit our rural crime page.