POLICE have launched a major clampdown on rural crime – targeting hundreds of outlying businesses around York.

Officers have identified hundreds of farms and York business premises that are located on industrial estates or away from built-up areas.

Over the coming weeks, farmers and business owners are being inviting businesses to boost their security, with a free crime prevention pack and security survey.

Dubbed Operation Woollen for farms and Operation Woodchip for rural businesses, the campaign is the biggest rural crime prevention drive the city has ever seen.

    See also: Police app combats rural crime

In total throughout York, Operation Woodchip will target more than 160 rural businesses, and Operation Woollen will target more than 230 farms.

The crime prevention packs include a security survey and the offer of a visit from a 'crime prevention champion' – a PCSO from their local Neighbourhood Policing Team.

Police said the North Yorkshire area was one of the safest places in the country, and York was a very safe city in which to do business.

But they said isolated and rural areas were frequently targeted by cross-border criminals, who travelled from outside the North Yorkshire border to commit crime.

PC Neil Slater said: "This campaign is all about making sure that we offer the same level of service to rural businesses that those in more urban areas receive.

"Vulnerability is one of our key areas of focus, and many rural premises are vulnerable because of their isolated location – so it's important that we do everything we can to protect them.

The challenge of policing a large rural area meant that officers needed to use a variety of tools and channels to keep people and businesses safe, said PC Slater.

"We can offer businesses a crime prevention pack, sent through the post, as well as a free security survey by a trained expert."

Other measures include dot peen marking – using a tungsten carbide-tipped pin to indent an object with dots to create a visible, permanent unique number.

The unique number will be entered onto the national Immobilise property register database, vastly increasing the chances that it will be reunited with its owner if it is lost or stolen.