NORTH Yorkshire Police has been shortlisted for a national award for its pioneering use of social media to fight rural crime.

The force is one of three finalists in the running for social media campaign of the year at the Digital Entrepreneur Awards 2015.

North Yorkshire Police’s online rural crime campaign aims to fight crime in rural areas by using social media to pass on warnings and encourage people to follow good crime prevention measures.

The campaign is centred around North Yorkshire Police’s Rural Crime Hub webpage and network of Twitter and Facebook accounts. The campaign highlights different topics at different times of year. For example, in February – lambing season – the campaign focused on sheep worrying; in March, as tourists began to take more day trips to the countryside, the campaign concentrated on thefts of valuables from cars parked at beauty spots.

Social media is also used to promote North Yorkshire’s volunteer Rural Watch and Borderwatch schemes, encouraging new members to join and publicising their excellent work.

Chief Inspector Nick Hunter, rural crime lead at North Yorkshire Police, said: “With 6,000 miles of roads and the largest police force area in England, support from the public is vital in the fight against rural crime.

"Our online rural crime campaign aims to ensure that residents are kept up-to-date with incidents in their area and take steps to protect their homes and property, and highlights the valuable contribution of our Rural Watch volunteers.”

The other two finalists in the social media campaign category are Diabetes UK and The Ladbibe. The winner will be announced on November 11.