DORSET Police's Special Constables delivered a two day cross-border operation to prevent and detect rural crime.

A team of 150 special constables from Dorset Police, together with other police forces, patrolled 1800 square miles of rural area on Friday, December 5 and Saturday, December 6.

Villages and towns around Axminster, Lyme Regis, Broadwindsor and Bridport were all included in the patrol route.

The operation, led by Dorset Police's Special Constabulary, involved proactive patrols in communities targeted by criminals committing crime such as burglaries and rural thefts.

Officers carried out stop checks of vehicles travelling in the areas and paid particular attention to those known to carry out this type of crime.

Special Inspector Ben Muspratt of Dorset Police said: “This the third of this type of operation ran and each time it's growing larger.

“It's very clear that this high visibility operation has had a positive impact on the community.

“More than 1000 people and vehicle checks were conducted across the South West, which sent out a very clear message to criminals that we will not tolerate such activity.”

In West Dorset, Avon and Somerset and Dorset specials dealt with a vehicle that had overturned near Broadwindsor as they were the nearest available units, and another unit in the Bridport area dealt with a cow that had escaped onto the road.

The Special Constabulary is keen to help tackle rural crime and plan to carry out this operation on a regular basis.

Special constables are unpaid volunteer police officers who have the same powers of arrest and wear the same uniform as regular officers performing a wide range of duties.

Advice to prevent rural crime is available at CrimePrevention.dorset.police.uk.