A police boss was grilled on the lack of bobbies on the beat in rural North Wales villages.

Theft of farming equipment and anti-social behaviour are a persistent problem, councillors on a Conwy Council scrutiny committee claimed.

They told North Wales Police Crime Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin at a meeting in Bodlondeb that frontline officers were largely absent from rural communities.

Eglwysbach councillor Austin Roberts said: “In our rural areas, the presence of the police isn’t as visible as it used to be in the past.”

He added: “I remember the days when every village had a policeman’s house and a police officer in it. That officer was very visible in our villages and in the rural area.”

“That is gone, and I accept that times change and resources are in short supply, but crime is a problem in the rural area. It is a problem on farms. It is a problem in villages.

“Anti-social behaviour by young people is also a problem in our villages.

“I would like to think it would be possible for the police to have more presence in the rural area.

“I’m not sure if that means we have to have more PCSOs. But one thing I’d like to see is engagement from the PCSOs that are responsible for a village.”

READ MORE: This is how much money Conwy Council made from sale of Civic Centre

Mr Dunbobbin said he understood that people wanted police to be visible, adding that neighbourhood policing was important to him.

He then explained the police had targeted rural criminals using the latest gadgets, including LoRaWAN technology.

LoRaWAN, or Low Power Long Range Wide Area Access Network, technology uses low-powered smart sensors that attach to farm buildings, alerting farmers on an app when machinery is stolen.

“What I am doing to address visibility in our rural areas – there is a lot of work going on with our rural crime team, a lot of work going on with other organisations regarding the theft of farming machinery or livestock with the use of LoRaWAN technology – (paraphrased) to see where criminality has taken place,” he said.

“So that is regarding (stolen) machinery or cars, things that matter to people. It could even be a bike in your shed.”

READ MORE: More than 700 knives taken off the streets of North Wales during police operation

Mr Dunbobbin said rural communities in Conwy were now visited by a police engagement van, enabling villagers to report crimes and their concerns.

“To improve the engagement with rural communities, I have co-funded an engagement van with North Wales Police. We have gone halves on this engagement van where we advertise it, and members of the public turn up,” he said.

“So if people have any questions or concerns, they can get in touch with us. To date it has been very successful, so much so that the rural crime team are wanting to have their own dedicated van.”

Mr Dunbobbin said police resources were often limited when having to respond to rural crime that had already happened, adding: “Neighbourhood policing is all about that proactive work to try to prevent the crimes from happening in the first place, but because of the demands of response, it can be quite a challenge.”

Mr Dunbobbin said he was open to working with town and community councils to look at holding police workshops as well as visiting villages so he could understand the concerns of rural communities.