A new partnership aiming to tackle rural crime in the northeast of Scotland was launched earlier this week.

The North East Scotland Rural Crime and Safety Partnership brings together more than 20 stakeholders and organisations, including Police Scotland, NFU Scotland and the SSPCA, and will focus on rural affairs such as agricultural safety and livestock worrying.

A new strategy focusing on rural crime and safety was launched alongside the partnership, which aims to maintain and improve the safety record of the region.

Crime in numbers

Rural crime across the northeast has declined by 34% over the last three years.

However, there was a rise in livestock worrying in 2017/2018, with eight more incidents occurring than in the previous year. Detection rates of livestock worrying have also risen to 73.3% during this same period.

Over the past four years, £127,605-worth of livestock has been stolen, with £21,750-worth of livestock having been recovered. In total, 63 agricultural vehicles were stolen in the past four years from the region, with two vehicles recovered as far away as Lithuania.