A CRIME wave across rural Tynedale has led to calls for more police officers on the district’s streets.

A spate of incidents in recent weeks has included two shop burglaries in Haltwhistle, while farms and other rural properties across Tynedale have been targeted by opportunistic thieves.

New statistics released this week by farm insurers NFU Mutual have shown that the cost of rural crime in the North-East rose by nine per cent between 2015 and 2016.

Northumbria Police have come under increasing pressure from the Government to make efficiency savings in recent years.

Police stations at Haltwhistle, Corbridge, Bellingham and Ponteland, closed in 2015; and in June of this year, the force announced that the opening hours at stations in Hexham and Prudhoe would be dramatically reduced.

Officers insisted that the changes were due to a significant decline in use, with more people reporting crimes via the telephone and internet. And they said frontline policing would not be affected by any cutbacks.

But Val Jackson, of Val’s Coffee House in Haltwhistle, said this week that the police presence had dropped in the town.

The shop, in the Market Place, was one of the two Haltwhistle businesses burgled between August 4 and 6.

She said: “We need to see more police officers on the beat. You don’t see them now and it’s a big worry.

“You hear of things happening all the time. The same weekend my shop was broken into, I heard that a camper van was stolen, and a bag was taken from a car.

“In years gone by, the police presence was very visible in this town, and that made a big difference.”

Neighbourhood Inspector Pam Bridges said: “We want to reassure our rural communities that their police, including neighbourhood policing teams and specialist resources such as motor patrols and the dog section, are here tackling and preventing crime.

“We will act on any information we receive to protect these rural communities from opportunist thieves.”

Insp. Bridges said Northumbria was working with other forces to target cross-border criminals. And she said tackling rural crime was a priority with Farmwatch, a network involving the police, farmers and other rural residents, sharing information about suspicious activity.