Organised criminal gangs smuggling stolen farmyard GPS' out of the country
GPS systems used on tractors are among the stolen farmyard equipment being smuggled out of the country, including in hand luggage through the ports, by organised criminal gangs.In its 2024 Rural Crime Report NFU Mutual estimated that the cost of rural crime nationally increased by 4.3 per cent year-on-year in 2023, to £52.8m. GPS unit thefts alone rose by 137 per cent to an estimated £4.2m.As part of the Yorkshire Post's Silent Crime series, The Yorkshire Post spoke to Sgt Kevin Jones of Humberside Police's Rural Taskforce.Sgt Jones, who has four police constables based at Driffield and two others in northern Lincolnshire, said they'd seen an increase in GPS thefts, while top brands like Ifor Williams twin axle trailers a target of choice for the thieves.GPS systems stolen from tractors are being smuggled out of the country by organised crime gangsOnce theft was largely opportunistic, but now "we are seeing more and more cross border criminality", he said.Humberside Police is working closely with other forces and the National Rural Crime Unit to share intelligence.Sgt Jones said: "It is more sophisticated, more organised. They will go for theft of trailers, of quads, with the intention of selling it on, or as use in other forms of rural crime."This is why it's so important we are talking to farmers and telling them the simple steps they can take to prevent crime."The rural taskforce has tried to address underreporting by dedicating a section on the force's website where farmers can report anything suspicious, however "trivial".Sgt Jones said: "Even if you don't think anything has happened, a van driver drives round your yard and claims to be lost, jot down the registration and contact the police. You can do it via the home page. It will come to our team."When the rural taskforce was set up three years ago I do think there was an issue of underreporting, mainly because farmers felt they weren't being listened to. It was a bit too low level or trivial.One of the challenges from our side was to raise the importance, to see rural or wildlife crime isn't different to any crime in progress." This has led to scripts being prepared to help call takers in the force control room, with templates which can be triggered by phrases like "hare-coursing".Community teams will get training "so they can confidently attend these incidents even if the rural taskforce is not available," he said. "Yes, we are small team but part of a bigger force. Organised crimes is everybody's problem. It's not just rural crime."One area they appear to have had success is hare-coursing, which has seen calls steadily decline in the last four years – down from 366 calls between August 2020 and March 2021, to just 48 in the same period between August 2023 and March 2024.Community protection notices, which can be used to deal with a wide range of anti social behaviour affecting a community, is also having an impact.They can now be used to extend across a number of police forces, from Northumbria to South Yorkshire, having a chilling effect on those who travel cross-border for hare-coursing.The bottom line, says Sgt Jones, is that people must report crimes: "If it's not reported it hasn't happened. How can I turn around and request additional police units to a hot spot, an emerging trend, when I don't have data to substantiate it?"If you are not reporting it, you are part of the problem."Poppy Arnett who is NFU County Adviser for East Yorkshire and works with Humberside and North Yorkshire Police said Farm Watch groups were a "really useful resource" for farmers to share information quickly and have direct access to the police.
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