Operation WHITEBEAM is a West Mercia Police Operation targeting criminals operating in the rural areas of South Shropshire.  On the night of Tuesday the 16th of July and into the early hours of Wednesday the 17th of July, Officers from Safer Neighbourhood Teams, the Neighbourhood Crime Fighting Team, Response Officers and Road Policing Officers conducted patrols throughout South Shropshire.

Officers engaged with members of the farming community across the area and were able to give some practical crime prevention advice.   They were also able to follow up on previous visits to victims of crime and will be able to pass on details to our Rural and Business Crime Officers, who will be able to provide specialist advice and crime prevention material and equipment. 

As well as farmers, Officers engaged with local residents and gave people the opportunity to sign up to the Neighbourhood Matters Police messaging service and let Officers know how they feel about the safety and security of their local area.

29 vehicles were checked over the course of the operation.   One of these came to the notice of Officers in Alveley and this was then stopped by specialist Road Policing Officers.   A number of drug related and immigration offences are now being investigated.

From information that was obtained by engaging with people and checking vehicles, three intelligence reports will be submitted to bring to the attention of other Officers two suspicious vehicles and an address where suspicious activity was witnessed.

During another engagement a member of the public wanted to hand in some knives, these turned out to be a pair of Kukri knives (the knives that Gurkha soldiers use) and these will be disposed of appropriately.

Each Town and Parish Council in the area has priorities that have been agreed with West Mercia Police.  This patrolling activity was able to provide a level of reassurance for those who have rural burglaries and related activity as one of their priorities.

Further combined Operations will take place throughout the year, focussing on rural crime and other priorities highlighted by Town and Parish Councils in the area.