A DETERMINED crackdown on gangs of travelling thieves preying on remote areas of the Yorkshire Dales was announced yesterday.

North Yorkshire Police and National Park officials have joined forces in a bid to target teams of criminals who travel huge distances to attack vehicles left in isolated areas by tourists.

Police community safety officer Steve Norman said the initiative, focusing on Richmondshire, was aiming to curb the activities of gangs who travel from County Durham and Cleveland areas to snatch walking gear, binoculars and other valuables.

The scheme, launched to coincide with the start of the summer visitor season, will also be warning tourists of the dangers of leaving vehicles in isolated areas.

Posters will be sent out to accommodation providers, warning cards placed on cars by police and rangers and new signs put up throughout the district.

PC Norman said thieves were wrong to assume a lack of policing in such rural areas would give them an easy target. "Because of the fact that we are so rural there is maybe a perception that they will have a better chance of getting away with it, but, as well as this initiative, there are also Dales watch schemes with local communities and farmers patrolling together," he said.

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