Rural Watch Update - 09/10/2026

Rural Watch Update - 09/10/2026

Good afternoon all, 

Thank you very much for your patience whilst I have been on annual leave. I hope you are all keeping well. I almost put my heating on yesterday… almost! Autumn feels like it has arrived. 

With autumn on our heels, it places additional responsibilities on us all to prepare for the darker nights. Please ensure you look out your timers for your indoor lights, if you can, you should ensure your house looks lived in at all times, especially in the evenings. Consider leaving a radio playing background noise if you’re out. Make sure to give your outdoor storm lights a dust down of the cobwebs and check they are working ok. Keep windows and doors locked at all times, to reduce like likelihood of opportunists entering. Speak with your neighbours, check in with one another, and please, please, please, report any suspicious vehicles/persons in your area to Police. Your eyes and ears and invaluable to us and play such a huge roll in keeping one another safe. 

If any of you have concerns about the security of your home, please get in touch. I’m only a phone call away and happy to give advice. I will be out and about in the next few weeks, visiting communities and farms, saying hello and dropping off some home/farm/business security leaflets. If you run or have a community group and attendees could benefit with security advice, please let me know. 

We recognise that there has been an increase in the criminal activity in our area, in particular, quad bikes. We understand that this of course, will be causing concerns amongst you all. The safety of our communities remains our priority, and I want to assure you, that Police are working very hard, to identify those responsible and target the criminals involved. 

Through joint force action and coordinated policing efforts with Northumbria and Durham Police, officers are working together, to tackle criminality, share intelligence, and take action against those responsible. This work takes time, and huge amounts of effort which are on-going to address these issues and help keep our communities safe. 

With that, please see below business news update, this contains two weeks of crimes reported.

Business News

WEST LOTHIAN

Hundreds of litres of Diesel has been siphoned from tanks and machinery at a construction site in Winchburgh. CCTV is on site but the crimes have not been captured. No suspects or suspicious vehicles been identified as yet. 

EAST/MID LOTHIAN

In Humbie, Two quad bikes have been stolen from a locked outbuilding on the premises. Padlocks where cut to gain access into the building. Please keep a look out for: 

Red Honda TRX 520 Quad 

Red Suzuki King Quad 300 with registration SF22 DMY 

No CCTV but forensic enquiries are ongoing. 

Also in Humbie, 400m of electric fencing and the energiser was stolen from a field. The field is not overlooked. 

In Pathhead, a further quad bike was stolen from within a shed. Please keep an eye out for 

Red Honda 420ES quad bike. 

No suspicious person or vehicle details known at this time.

SCOTTISH BORDERS 

In Newcastleton, two separate incidents of theft of diesel occurred and several hundreds of litres of diesel have been siphoned from tanks and machinery on sites. No CCTV at either site, enquiries are ongoing. 

Thank you very much for reading. 

Take care, 

PC Robyn Hanna