Essex police are cracking down on rural crime and holding a special awareness day to increase crime prevention.

Residents, landowners and farmers across the county are invited to the third annual Rural Crime Awareness Day, aiming to drive down countryside crime.

Farmers, landowners, residents and rural businesses cover 78% of the county and thieves have targetted machinery, tractors, fuel, heating oils and barns for thefts in 25,826 incidents since November 2013.

Crime prevention officer Stephen Armson-Smith said: “The figures for rural crime over the whole county generally shows a drop in crime over the past year, however some of the northern areas show an increase in some crimes.

“We are using events such as the Rural Crime Awareness Day to draw awareness to measures that the rural communities can take to help reduce crimes.”