Port of Tilbury-Police Constable

[Fedster + 1,307]

Rural crime is at its highest level for eight years with thieves targeting high value agricultural equipment, according to new figures. The National Farmer's Union says every part of the UK has been affected.

Country crime file: rural crime is at an eight-year high, according to new data

Date - 5th August 2020
By - Chris Smith

Rural crime has reached record levels with thieves targeting equipment, vehicles and livestock.

Research by NFU Mutual revealed rural crime has cost the UK economy £54.3m in 2019. This is an increase of nearly 9 per cent on the previous year and the highest cost recorded in eight years.

Data from across the country showed that for the second year running, the sharp rise was driven by thefts of high-value tractors, quad bikes and other farm vehicles. Livestock theft also increased in 2019, with organised gangs taking large numbers of sheep, which are thought to be entering the food chain illegally.

Thieves are increasingly targeting high-value items rather than property.

The end of production of the Land Rover Defender, which has now become a cult vehicle in the USA, has made it highly desirable to thieves who are stealing whole vehicles or parts for the black market.

The other big growth area has been in the theft of GPS systems which can be resold both in the UK and abroad. They are used by farmers to achieve pinpoint accuracy for sowing and spraying fields.

Suffolk Constabulary is investigating one incident last month where thieves at one farm drilled their way into five tractors and stole GPS systems valued at £100,000.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary is investigating the theft of GPS units from 11 tractors on one farm.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire said: “We’re encouraging farmers to remove the screens and other valuables when leaving their vehicles and, where possible, parking them in secure, alarmed buildings.”

Quad bikes and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles) worth £2.6m were stolen across the country. They have no registration plates and are easy to transport, making them an easy target. A quad bike was the target for the thugs who were convicted last week of killing PC Harper last year.

Livestock theft rose by nearly 15 per cent year on year.

Lincolnshire saw the biggest increase in thefts at 11.1 per cent followed by Scotland and the North East.

The figures do not include activities such as hare coursing or property damage such as lead stealing and architectural theft.

NFU Mutual warned that without the sharing of intelligence the cost would be far higher and that as a post-COVID-19 recession hits, rural crime is set to increase.

Jim McLaren, Chairman of NFU Mutual, said: “Rural crime continued to grow last year as organised criminals targeted the countryside."

But he added: “Increased use of tracking devices is helping police recover more stolen tractors. Information from farm watch groups is helping to bring criminals to justice.”   

Forces across the country are increasing their capability with rural crime teams. Gloucestershire has increased its fleet of quad bikes, Cambridgeshire is using drones and Sussex has invested in more rural crime officers.

Surrey Police has specialist Wildlife and Rural Crime Officers, supported by a positive relationship with the RSPCA and organisations including the National Farmers’ Union.

Surrey saw an increase of rural incidents of 0.6 per cent.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey David Munro said: “The impact of rural crime is far from just financial. Every crime has the potential to be deeply upsetting and leave victims isolated. As we enter a period of increasing uncertainty, I’ll be continuing this attention on rural crime as part of my promise to make Surrey an even safer place to live and work.”

Read the full report by NFU Mutual HERE 

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[Radman + 2,163]

This headline raises it's head every few years...

Having worked alongside rural crime teams close to me they tend to be one or two cops spread extremely thinly covering absolutely huge areas of their county force which in reality is a totally unrealistic area to police, my patch may well be geographically spread as a rail cop but atleast it's fairly specialised and focused in scope. 

I personally think some kind of national rural ranger or warden model as seen in Canada and the US may well work to combat certain aspects of rural crime by ensuring the role is 'focused' on specific issues and can really cut their teeth into this area of work, so long as they would have the powers and training necessary to undertake such a role in-line with HO standards.

The sad reality is that rural communities will always suffer as they simply do not have the same policing priority within HO forces as larger urban towns or cities. Anecdotally and somewhat infamously local to me the HO force closed down it's most rural station moving the already limited response team 25minutes away to the next station along, effectively the local community was without any real police response with organised gangs popping over the county border targeting peoples homes, businesses and farms.  

[Zulu 22 + 4,574]

Yes, the rural communities were stripped of their cover many years ago which has allowed Rural Crime to rocket. There was a time when a rural area would have its own officer covering an area from a Local Police House/station. The Officer knew his community and they knew him. But, that is many years ago. Now they have replaced those officers with one unit with one 4 x 4 vehicle trying to cover a massive area. 

The thieves are getting bolder and taking advantage, some would say taking the P*%$. However the farmers are forming their own, not vigilante, groups where they are in touch with each other reacting to any suspicious behaviour. They are not adverse to blocking country lanes with their tractors and appliances. 

Much of the rural crime just happens to rocket when "Traveller" families are in the area and you lose quad bikes, compressors and anything that moves.  That is what happened in the recent tragic PC Harpers death. 

They are now even not stealing live animals but, actually slaughtering them on site and removing the carcase. Sometimes it can be many days before a farmer finds that he has lost a number of sheep, or even cattle.

[Dirty harry + 75]

59 minutes ago, Radman said:

This headline raises it's head every few years...

Having worked alongside rural crime teams close to me they tend to be one or two cops spread extremely thinly covering absolutely huge areas of their county force which in reality is a totally unrealistic area to police, my patch may well be geographically spread as a rail cop but atleast it's fairly specialised and focused in scope. 

I personally think some kind of national rural ranger or warden model as seen in Canada and the US may well work to combat certain aspects of rural crime by ensuring the role is 'focused' on specific issues and can really cut their teeth into this area of work, so long as they would have the powers and training necessary to undertake such a role in-line with HO standards.

The sad reality is that rural communities will always suffer as they simply do not have the same policing priority within HO forces as larger urban towns or cities. Anecdotally and somewhat infamously local to me the HO force closed down it's most rural station moving the already limited response team 25minutes away to the next station along, effectively the local community was without any real police response with organised gangs popping over the county border targeting peoples homes, businesses and farms.  

Another reason to have a tiered policing system like France and Spain, for example.   A Gendarmerie or Guardia civil  style force with specific responsibility for rural areas  .  

[Sceptre + 2,701]

Some of the crime simply hasn't been designed out yet. Quadbikes and plant are often as easy to steal now as cars were in the 1990s, and the lack of a central database with chassis numbers makes them harder to track and identify. Over time I'm sure we'll see immobilisers and trackers becoming more common on agricultural plant under pressure from the insurance industry. 

I'm not convinced we ever had or could hope to have the resources to patrol large rural areas effectively; it's like finding a needle in a haystack trying to be in the right place at the right time. We have the capability for targetted policing when the intelligence exists, that is where the gap appears to be. 

[Indiana Jones + 1,082]

1 hour ago, Dirty harry said:

Another reason to have a tiered policing system like France and Spain, for example.   A Gendarmerie or Guardia civil  style force with specific responsibility for rural areas  .  

Would that help though? If the issue is a lack of funds, then you still need to find those funds for the Gendarmerie instead of finding them for the current local force.

[Zulu 22 + 4,574]

You do not need a French system. All you need is the staffing level increasing. Thank goodness I did not say Manpower. If you wanted to have different Forces or branches then you would need the extra staffing, but, if you have the staff then you do not need the different levels. We have City Forces, and County Forces all under the same umbrella.

In the rural area's you could sometimes sit in a country lane all night without seeing a vehicle. If you did see a vehicle you would stop and carry out a check.

[Dirty harry + 75]

41 minutes ago, Indiana Jones said:

Would that help though? If the issue is a lack of funds, then you still need to find those funds for the Gendarmerie instead of finding them for the current local force.

I would base it on the Spanish system where local policing is carried out by each city and town and funded by the local authority.   The Gendarmerie style force would be a national service funded by Central government.   Having responsibility for policing  smaller towns and villages that don't have the resources / budget to support their own police .  In Spain towns with under 5000 inhabitants fall into this category.  Just my opinion 🤔

Edited August 5, 2020 by Dirty harry