Preventing Rural Crime

Helping you to protect your farm and equipment through the winter

Words and photos from the Police Rural Crime Team

You will not have failed to notice how early it gets dark these days. For some it shortens the working day and for others it lengthens it along with the chance to use the cover of darkness to commit opportunist crimes.

It doesn’t matter if you are in an urban or rural area there will always be someone who has their eyes open to get something for nothing.

It is a sad fact that the darker evenings have traditionally meant more thefts from farms. With the substantial increase in the cost of living the Wiltshire Police Rural Crime Team are asking farmers, landowners and those who live in isolated rural areas to be extra vigilant.

PC Pete Simmons who covers the south of the Force area said: “Crime prevention is one of the most important things you can do to help reduce farm crime as a whole. Some simple measures can help you protect your equipment, livestock and home.

“Some are simple and will cost you nothing apart from your time and others will require investment in security systems.”

Here are some of the things you can do to help prevent becoming a victim: ● Lock gates into farmyards at night to deter drive through thieves ● Lock doors into outbuildings and farmhouses ● Fit CCTV and flood lights activated by passive infrared sensors ● Ensure alarms are working and properly maintained ● Use signage stating CCTV is present or alarm systems in place ● Don’t leave keys in farm machinery ● Keep keys in a secure cabinet after working hours ● Lock tools and other machinery securely away after use ● Consider using a steering wheel lock on vehicles ● Using a hitch-lock on a trailer is cheaper than replacing the whole trailer ● Record serial numbers and take pictures of more expensive kit – especially unusual marks caused by wear and tear.

This makes it easier to ID if is stolen and recovered ● Use a security marking system, such as the DNA product we promote as part of

Op Siege, which is a burglary deterrent initiative on power tools, machinery or

GPS systems (see below) ● GPS systems should also be removed from vehicles overnight and locked away securely ● Use trackers on items such as Quads/ATVs ● Ensure bulk fuel tanks are securely locked at all times when nobody is using them ● Don’t leave scrap metal or old batteries out in view. Lock them out of sight or in a secured skip ● Think about using the CESAR agricultural equipment security and registration scheme – www.cesarscheme.org ● Set a procedure/guidance for farm workers to follow should they see an unknown person or vehicle on the farm estate. Ideally report this to Wiltshire

Police

● Join a local farm watch or rural watch group to keep updated about local rural crime trends and suspicious sightings ● If you haven’t already done so, sign up to the Farm Watch group on Community

Messaging www.wiltsmessaging.co.uk

Op Siege

Launched in the summer of 2022, Op Siege is intended to act as a deterrent to residential burglars and could also be a useful tool for farmers to use on the farm or in their homes.

The Force has chosen to work with a Secured by Design nationally policeapproved company, called SelectaDNA. The company manufactures a unique product marking kit that links to a national database that is accessible by all police forces.

The product is a clear liquid that contains unique data tags only visible under an ultraviolet light. Each bottle of liquid is unique and can be used to mark up to 50 items. Although envisaged for household valuables such as antiques, electronics and jewellery it is also being used by tradesmen to mark their power tools.

Once you have marked an item with the liquid you enter that on a national database so that if an item is stolen it can be identified as yours if recovered. This also makes it easier for the Police to get your property back to you.

Wiltshire Police has agreed a special low rate for those living in Wiltshire and Swindon – you can buy a discounted home kit directly from the manufacturer using this link only: www.selectadna.co.uk/nhw

Use discount code NHWAWILTSHIRE and get a SelectaDNA home kit at the reduced price of £25.00 inclusive of VAT and postage.

You do not have to be a Neighbourhood Watch member to do so.

Wildlife crime

Another unsavoury aspect of criminal activity at this time of year is illegal poaching.

So far this year we have seen a fall in hare coursing and this is partly due to the new equipment the Police and Crime Commissioner has invested in for the Rural Crime Team – night vision goggles, digital binoculars with recording facility and drones are all part of the armoury to help prevent hare coursing.

If you see hare coursing taking place call 999 immediately, do not approach the people involved. If you can see how many people and dogs are involved, the type and colour of the vehicle being used – registration plate too – it can help to catch them. Hare coursers can do thousands of pounds of damage to a field and farm property in a very short time.

Whenever possible keep field gates locked and use capping hinges to help prevent theft.

Wiltshire Police helps prevent hare coursing across force boundaries as part of Op Galileo. Information is exchanged between forces to help identify persistent perpetrators and exchange other intelligence to help prevent this crime.

Contact Wiltshire Police

In an emergency, always call 999. Or call 101 the non-emergency number. In other circumstances you can report a crime online here: www.wiltshire.police.uk/ Report_a_crime

RSPCA reveals latest crime report

THE RSPB published its Birdcrime 2021 report recently which revealed that birds of prey continue to be illegally killed in high numbers in the UK.

In total there were 108 confirmed incidents in the UK, 80 of which were in England – the second highest on record.

Many of the cases, over two thirds, were related to land managed for game bird shooting, where birds of prey are seen by some as a threat to gamebird stocks and illegally killed.

The total includes 50 buzzards (pictured), 16 red kites, seven peregrines and three goshawks. Rare hen harriers and white-tailed eagles also continue to be affected. The majority of the birds were either shot, trapped or poisoned.

Scientific papers, intelligence and satellite tagging studies for key species such as hen harrier suggest the annual Birdcrime totals are only the tip of a far larger iceberg, and that many killings go undetected and unreported.

All birds of prey are protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Two of the worst counties based on 2021 data – Norfolk (13 incidents) and Dorset (12 incidents) – are lowland areas, dominated by pheasant and partridge shooting. The third worst county was North Yorkshire (10 incidents), which includes grouse, pheasant and partridge shooting.

One shocking incident was caught on camera by the RSPB, showing a gamekeeper beating buzzards to death in a trap in Nottinghamshire.

The worst individual case occurred in north Wiltshire. On June 1, Swindon Magistrate’s Court handed gamekeeper Archie Watson a 12-month community order to carry out 180 hours unpaid work and told to pay £393 costs after he pleaded guilty to offences relating to the possession of five buzzards and three red kites. This followed an investigation in August 2020 carried out by RSPB Investigations Officers following a tip-off.

On land near Beckhampton, the officers found an innocuouslooking manhole cover on the edge of a field. They installed a remote, covert video camera to monitor the site.

Three days later, they returned under the cover of darkness and lowered an action camera and light down into the well.

A complex recovery operation involved photo comparison of corpses, detailed feather analysis and skull examinations carried out by the Natural History Museum.

The body count was at least four red kites, 11 buzzards and one large gull. This makes it the largest number of birds of prey ever involved in an English raptor persecution investigation. Officers feared that other remains were in too poor a state to allow identification.

Mark Thomas, RSPB head of investigations UK, said: “The data in this report clearly show that raptor persecution remains at a sustained high level,.

“The illegal shooting, trapping and poisoning of birds of prey has no place in modern society. The time for reform is now long overdue.”

The organisation has also called for stronger sentences to be handed out to better protect birds of prey from persistent illegal killing.