11
Aug
2014
By Calvin at 10:57 GMT, 11 years ago
The BBC News is currently broadcasting reports of a 5.2% rise in rural crime for last year. The data has been collected by NFU Mutual, which estimates that rural crime cost the rural economy £44.5m in 2013, up from £42.4m in 2012. This reverses the 19.7% fall from 2011 to 2012. The rise seems to have been driven in part by an increase in livestock theft and the theft of high value agricultural equipment, much of it ending up in Eastern Europe and developing countries.
Here are the main points:
- 2013 was the worst year on record for livestock theft with Northern Ireland and Northern parts of England seeing livestock theft up 25%
- Larger numbers of sheep are being taken during each incident – up to 150 at a time
- Numbers of farm vehicles stolen decreased, but the value of insurance claims rose
- Cambridgeshire was the biggest loser with £2.7m worth of claims
- Theft of older farm vehicles, not fitted with high-tech security devices, which end up in developing countries is a new trend
- Most stolen items in 2013 were tools, all-terrain vehicles and quad bikes, oil and diesel
- A new targeted item is pesticides taken during burglaries of farm chemical stores
Top Ten Worst Hit Counties
- Cambridgeshire (£2.7m)
- Lincolnshire (£2.3m)
- Essex (£2.1m)
- Kent (£1.8m)
- Lancashire (£1.8m)
- Suffolk (£1.5m)
- North Yorkshire (£1.5m)
- Leicestershire (£1.3m)
- Co. Antrim (£1.2m)
- Somerset (£1.2m)
Top Ten Targeted Items
- Tools
- ATVs/Quad bikes
- Oil/Diesel
- Machinery
- Garden equipment
- Livestock
- Tractors
- Trailers
- Vehicles
- Equestrian equipment
TCPW Comment: My wife’s family and several of her friends are from the farming community in Herefordshire and so I’ve had an opportunity to informally assess the level of rural security many times. It’s generally not good and I fear it will remain this way for some time to come. Crime in rural parts of the UK is generally a lot lower than in the urban environment, but this does not mean it is absent. Some of you may have heard people living in the country say to you that they can go out leaving their doors wide open and there’s no need to lock the car; I know I have, and yet this is simply not what they should do, because our thieving community has most certainly caught on!
I’m currently putting together some new pages on this site for rural crime prevention to support the police efforts, but with all the advice that’s currently out there – and there’s a lot of it - it’s got to be followed to make a difference.
You know it makes sense!
Source BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28704686
Protect your fuel http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/directory/53/fuel-theft-protection-devices/
CCTV http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/directory/l56/vipauk-ltd/
