The new police and crime commissioner for Dyfed-Powys stressed his top priority is to develop a rural policing force and take on more special constables when he recently addressed Farmers' Union of Wales' Carmarthenshire county executive committee.
Christopher Salmon provided details of his responsibilities such as setting priorities for policing and controlling the force's budget - £55m is received from Central Government with the remaining £45m from public taxes.
Dyfed-Powys is the largest rural police force in the UK with 500,000 people covered by the service. In comparison, the Thames Valley police force is responsible for policing five million people in an area a third of the size.
With the force thinly spread out over the area Dyfed-Powys Police, therefore, depends greatly on the local community to keep them informed of crime and to report suspicious incidents.
FUW Carmarthenshire county chairman Catherine Nakielny said: "Mr Salmon gave us a really interesting insight into the challenges facing the force and what changes this new office have put in place in recent months.
"The rural nature of our locality seems to provide challenges and opportunities and one of the messages which came out was that as well as relying on the police force we also need to work together to help prevent rural crime.
"A good example given was the OWL messaging service. This service informs local residents including farmers of any issue having occurred in the area," Dr Nakielny added.
To sign up for either the e-mail or text message service, FUW members should contact the County Office on 01267 237 974.
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COMMISSIONER CALLS: From left, FUW county vice chairman Brian Richards, Christopher Salmon, Catherine Nakielny and county president Ian Rickman.[/caption]