Latest figures released today (14 August) reveal that despite a 4% drop last year, the cost of rural theft has risen sharply in the first half of 2017.
According to NFU Mutual’s Rural Crime Report, early theft claims statistics for the first half of this year show a sharp rise of over 20% raising concerns that a new wave of rural crime is hitting the countryside.
The insurance company said the 'countryside under siege' as new wave of brazen thieves target farms.
Being ‘staked out’ is the biggest worry for country people, followed closely by longer police response times in rural areas, according to the leading rural insurer.
Criminals continue to target Land Rovers, quad bikes, tractors, tools and livestock despite increased security on farms.
The report reveals that the cost of rural crime to the UK economy fell by 4% to £39.2m in 2016 as farmers turned their farmyards into fortresses to protect themselves from increasingly brazen attacks from rural thieves.
Successful joint initiatives involving police forces, NFU Mutual and other organisations also contributed to the fall.
'Sharp rise'
“While the fall in rural theft in 2016 is welcome news, the sharp rise in the first half of 2017 is deeply worrying,” said Tim Price, NFU Mutual Rural Affairs Specialist.
“Countryside criminals are becoming more brazen and farmers are now having to continually increase security and adopt new ways of protecting their equipment.
“In some parts of the country, farmers are having to turn their farmyards into fortresses to protect themselves from repeated thieves who are targeting quads, tractors and power tools.
“They are using tracking devices on tractors, video and infra-red surveillance in their farmyards and even DNA markers to protect sheep from rustlers.
“The threat of becoming a victim of rural crime, and regular reports of suspicious characters watching farms is causing high levels of anxiety amongst farmers who know their rural location makes them vulnerable to attacks.
“As the main insurer of the countryside, NFU Mutual has responded to its members’ concerns and has invested over £1m to tackle the menace. The results of initiatives we support show clearly that when police, farmers and other rural organisations tackle rural crime in an organised way these schemes can be extremely effective.”
Rural theft
The North East, South West and the East of England were the regions to see a rise in the cost of rural theft in 2016 of 8.7%, 5.6% and 3.7% respectively.
In Scotland, where NFU Mutual and Police Scotland have joined forces to form the SPARC (Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime) initiative, the cost of rural theft fell by over 32% last year.
There was a similar good result in Northern Ireland – where a Rural Crime Partnership including NFU Mutual, PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland), MOJ (Ministry of Justice) and other organisations has been set up – with the cost of rural theft down by 14.9%.
Sarah Lee, Head of Policy at the Countryside Alliance said: “These figures are extremely concerning but will not come as a surprise to the many rural businesses and communities who are at the sharp end of these statistics.
“Crime is a key issue for rural communities and there are specific challenges to policing isolated areas for under-resourced constabularies.
“The gap in funding for urban and rural constabularies should be closed and not allowed to increase as it has in previous years.”
Quads and ATVS
• Quads and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles) are disappearing from farms in large numbers – thanks to being easy to transport and lack of registration plates
• The cost of Quad and ATV theft claims to NFU Mutual rose to £2m, an increase of 11% from 2015 to 2016
• CESAR marking and tracking devices are the most effective security measures – once basic measures of keeping vehicles out of sight in a building with the machine secured to have been addressed
Land Rover Defenders
• Since Land Rover’s iconic Defender rolled off the production line in January last year it has become an even bigger target for thieves
• Costs for theft of Defender vehicle claims to NFU Mutual rose to £2.1 million in 2016, an increase of 17% since 2015
• The region with the highest cost of Land Rover Defender thefts last year was the North East, followed by the South East, the Midlands and the South West
Tractors
• Thieves are increasingly cloning the identity of tractors to make detection more difficult
• Eastern counties are being targeted most
• Thieves are stealing small, older tractors for export to third world countries as well as expensive large models
Livestock
• The estimated cost of livestock theft fell from £2.9m in 2015 to £2.2m in 2016. All UK regions experienced a fall - apart from Wales where the cost rose by £100,000
• Thefts of large numbers of lambs are raising concerns that stock is being stolen for slaughter and processing outside regulated abattoirs before illegally entering the food chain
• Technology - including DNA testing and electronic chips in boluses now offer robust evidence to help bring rustlers to justice
