FARMERS are joining forces with police in a crackdown on rural thieves that could help cut down on crime.

The new Farm Watch scheme, covering the Derwentside area of north-west Durham, uses a combination of technology and traditional methods. It will be launched at Lanchester Show at the weekend.

The initiative, led by Derwentside's Community Policing Unit, will be offered to farms and rural businesses in the district, with mobile phone text messaging and e-mails being used.

The scheme includes a telephone hotline and a crime-ring computer that will circulate, by telephone and e-mail, information to scheme members.

Community beat officer PC Alan Patterson, one of the designers of the project, said: "Many farmers and their families feel isolated and a target for thieves, not least because of their location in rural areas.

"This new package of measures is a great way of circulating urgent or up-to-date crime intelligence and information that might directly affect them.

"We hope by keeping in touch with both the police and neighbouring farms they will ultimately feel reassured and less vulnerable.

"This scheme gives all members of the farming community the opportunity to become additional eyes and ears, passing on information about the movements of strangers and their vehicles."

In recent months, quad bikes, trailers, horseboxes and other farm vehicles have been a particular target for opportunist thieves.

An additional feature of the scheme will be the issue of numbered Farm Watch gate-plates to members to identify each farm through a central database.

PC Patterson said: "The gate-plates will not only alert would-be thieves that farms are on their guard but, by using the database information, it will also speed up the police response when suspicious movement or a crime is reported.

"We will also be providing extra crime prevention advice to farmers and all those who work in the agricultural community.

The Derwentside Farm Watch scheme, sponsored by Lanchester Dairies and the Government Office North-East, supports the new StreetSafe force-wide initiative to increase public reassurance and reduce the fear of crime.