It was set up in the face of increasing rural crime, but, as a rural version of Neighbourhood Watch celebrates its fifth aniversary, John Dean discovers that it's about much more than preventing crime.

IT'S a Sunday afternoon in April and concealed behind farm buildings and on footpaths around Darlington are a number of vehicles. Their occupants are watching and waiting, binoculars constantly scanning the farmland for sign of movement.

Every few minutes, their radios crackle into life as they talk to each other and the police units also parked up in support of their vigil.

Suddenly, one of the teams reports four juveniles walking across farmland to the north of the town: this is what the Darlington Rural Watch (DRW) members are looking for.

The DRW unit keeps watching as the police move in, guiding officers to the juveniles' location.

Officers question them, names are taken and the group is returned to a legitimate footpath. They do not appear to have been wrongdoers but, nevertheless, their parents will receive anti-social behaviour guidance letters from the police, telling them that their children were trespassing.

It's another little piece of intelligence gathered by DRW, which this year celebrates its fifth anniversary since being set up to tackle crime on the farms and homesteads within the borough.

The movement has its roots in the initiative taken by Darlington gamekeeper Brian Pavey, who started patrolling farmland in the area in 1995. As he developed working relationships with farmers, he noted their growing concern about poaching, mainly of hare and rabbit, theft, vandalism and drug-taking on their land, some of it committed by armed men.

The farmers, he realised, felt a sense of isolation and the result was the creation of Farmwatch, as it was then known, in September 1999 with just six members.

Last year, the group changed its name to Darlington Rural Watch to reflect its growing involvement with the wider community - its 60-plus members include everyone from stable owners to retired people living in the countryside around the town. Members mount regular patrols, sometimes during the day, often at dead of night.

DURING the operation in April, for instance, ten DRW members were backed by Darlington police officer PC Clare Addison, also the group's secretary, and three officers from the Durham Constabulary Beat Support Unit, using two vehicles. The dog section and police plane were on stand-by.

The patrols are well organised: members meet police at a secret location and undergo a briefing. Operations are detailed on maps and the patrol teams given useful intelligence about suspicious cars and people to watch out for.

The rules are simple: DRW members can gather intelligence but they must not, under any circumstances, approach anyone themselves. That is left to the police.

Linked by radio and mobile telephones, the teams conceal their vehicles at pre-arranged surveillance points.

DRW chairman Mr Pavey, a Darlington gamekeeper who previously had a long military career, says: "The key to our success is the planning. Operations are mapped out in detail so we know where everyone is.

"Since we started, we have gathered hundreds of pieces of intelligence, whether it be cars parked where they should not be or people trespassing on the land.

"We log everything: it may not mean much at the time but it all adds up and helps police build up a picture of what is happening. If you see a vehicle parked somewhere then a robbery takes place, that information may be vital."

And it seems to work. Mr Pavey says: "When we started, there were one or two incidents a day, now there is one a week. Some of the wrongdoers are local but some come from Cleveland and even down from Newcastle.

"We believe we are forcing them out out of our area and we hope to link with police and groups in all the areas near the boundaries of our district."

DRW co-ordinator Derek Hill, a local farmer, believes the way the four juveniles were stopped in the latest exercise is useful.

He says: "They will go back and tell someone else that when they went onto the land, they were stopped by the police. It sends the word out to others who might be tempted to trespass."

Mr Hill recalls the incident which prompted farmers to agree to establish DRW five years ago. Three youths entered a farmyard and the farmer did not feel confident enough to challenge them. Although they did not commit an offence, the incident highlighted the isolation felt by the farming community.

Mr Hill says: "The incident set us thinking: the farmer did not dare tackle them on his own and he did not tell anyone else until the next day."

To that end, there has always been more to DRW than tackling crime. One of the main reasons it was set up was to reduce the isolation felt by the rural community.

SO DRW stages regular social events and encourages communication between members, whether it be a cup of tea or a quick pint down the pub or simply a reassuring telephone call.

DRW has also helped members increase security at homes and farms, including infra-red detectors, ultrasonic beams, alarm systems and closed circuit cameras, and operates a texting service in which details of suspicious activities can be flashed to members' mobile phones within seconds.

Mr Hill says: "People get to know each other and where they can go for help. It is about reassurance and we have seen a drop in the number of incidents since we set up."

PC Addison, a community safety officer and the police liaison officer linking the force with DRW, says: "The main achievement has been to bring the community together. Crime has definitely decreased, including the poaching. We have an excellent working partnership with DRW and the farmers."

Their success has been more widely acknowledged: earlier this year, DRW was included in Crime Reduction News, the national Home Office publication which disseminates good crime prevention practice.

After the article appeared, Mr Pavey received calls from police officers in Cheshire, Berkshire, Somerset, and Cleveland, all requesting information.

He says: "DRW is about creating a sense of community. Before we started, you would get farmers driving past each other but not acknowledging each other, now they stop, wind down the window and have a chat.

"And farmers now don't hesitate to ring the police whereas before they would not have bothered. The police have been very helpful and worked closely with us. What we do together sends out the message that the rural community is out in force."