Det Supt Nick Dean

Farmers report a crime a day - as Norfolk police get tough on agricultural crime

by BEN KENDALL, Crime correspondent Monday, January 17, 2011
12:00 PM

"“In a low crime county like Norfolk one offence in a normally quiet community can have a massive impact on people’s sense of security.
“Operation Randall is seeking to target rural crime, in particular those offences that impact on farmers and people who reside or work in isolated locations and whose premises have been vulnerable to attack.”"

Det Supt Nick Dean

Farmers in Norfolk report offences ranging from machinery theft to livestock rustling and arson at least once a day, the EDP can reveal as it backs a police initiative to get tough on rural crime.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show Norfolk police were called to farms in the county 467 times last year. This has fallen by 17pc since 2008 - but many incidents go unreported.

The most common offence was theft, with 244 offences reported, while officers also investigated 126 burglaries. There were also a small number of vehicle crimes and violent offences. Arson attacks were reported 15 times.

In Suffolk 505 offences were reported last year and in Cambridgeshire the figure stood at 421.

One farmer’s account

Bob Gooderham is based in Garboldisham, South Norfolk, and runs poultry shed cleaning firm Ryan Poultry.

He says he has seen crime rise steadily over the decades and estimates that his business is now targeted by criminals once or twice a month. This ranges from fuel dipping to vehicle thefts.

He said: “These crimes disrupt our ability to do our job and have huge financial implications. If somebody empties a fuel tank, that could cost us £200 or £300 a time. I also have to pay a £300 excess on any insurance claim.

“I have taken steps to improve security including installing security cameras at a cost of £20,000 and a £4,000 per year charge. All of my vans are fitted with trackers.

“It has got to the point where I question whether it’s worth contacting the police every time this happens.

“But I realise that we need to help the police by giving them information. Farmers need to be educated to do this because it is not something which we are traditionally very good at.”

Norfolk police have launched Operation Randall in a bid to forge better links with agricultural communities. The EDP is backing this operation with its own Farm Alert campaign, encouraging those effected by the problem to help the police gather intelligence.

Det Supt Nick Dean, who is in charge of the operation, said: “We have recognised an historic lack of communication between ourselves and farming communities and as a result there are sections of the community who are reluctant to contact us.

“We now have a dedicated team of detectives set up specifically to tackle issues such as fuel and

scrap metal theft along with rural-specific crimes such as theft of agricultural machinery and hare coursing,

Ben Turner, managing director of Norwich agricultural machinary firm Ben Burgess, is among those backing Operation Randall.

“In a low crime county like Norfolk one offence in a normally quiet community can have a massive impact on people’s sense of security.

“Operation Randall is seeking to target rural crime, in particular those offences that impact on farmers and people who reside or work in isolated locations and whose premises have been vulnerable to attack.”

The force has formed an alliance with the Farm Watch scheme, the National Farmers’ Union, Norfolk hunts and leading Norwich-based agricultural engineers Ben Burgess.

The team, which includes covert officers, will carry out pro-active work to target the organised gangs behind many of the crimes.

By gathering intelligence, the force will be able to target resources towards crime hotspots and particular problems.

Mr Dean said: “We need people in rural communities to be our eyes and ears. People know they’re own communities and they know when something isn’t right. We need them to contact us to report any suspicions they have.

“They may not always see an immediate response but the information will be used to build up an intelligence picture to help tackle crime in the long term.

“We have a pledge to visit every victim of crime and we are also working hard to improve communication. We will tell people what the current issues are, how they can protect themselves and what we are doing to address them.”

The Randall team has already carried out a number of high profile operations. These including working with agencies like Revenue and Customs, the Environment Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency to check more than 2,400 vehicles for suspicious activity near Downham Market and Terrington using number plate recognition.

The biggest success so far came when officers arrested two men in a bogus BT van loaded with a winch for unearthing telephone cables.

Detectives also recovered a large quantity of suspected stolen cable when they swooped on the van at an undisclosed location in Lincolnshire. The arrests came after members of the public alerted police to a van seen in suspcious circumstances in Norfolk.

Mr Dean said: “This is a perfect example of how we can respond if provided with information by the public.”

8 comments

How easy it is to criticise an organisation based on your past, Mr Gare. I disagree with your comments, which we can do in a democratic society. I know that many of the processes and procedures used now were set in place to avoid the 'bad ol' day's' of police remaining parochial, letting their mates off, and being 'good ol' boy's'. They have targets to meet to ensure they do their job as the public expects them to. It is not rocket science to deliver a good service. Those in specialist units may not be visible, but they have far more stringent rules and procedures to follow than those who served in the 70's and 80's when rules were not followed. Rules have to be followed, because failure to do so means a case will be lost at court - not something they want to tell the family of a murder victim - I'm sorry, we took a short cut and didn't get the right evidence because procedure is sooo yesterday!The police get a hard enough time, give them a break, support them, and they will be more effective.

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Westie

Tuesday, January 18, 2011
To Daisy Roots. Farmers and machinery manufacturers must take some responsibility for not fitting anti theft devices to their equipment in the past. I was a police officer in the 70s 80s and 90s and the thefts you describe were as prevalent then as they are now. Machinery was stolen and shipped abroad, exactly as it is now - especially diggers. Copper cable was stolen from overhead wires on a regular basis and diesel was stolen on almost a daily basis. When prices are high there will always be a market for stolen metal, diesel and farm equipment. They are just thieves and you don`t need any particular expertise to catch them - just good old fashioned policing and information from the public.

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BG

Tuesday, January 18, 2011
To John Norton. Its not the number of officers you have its the way you manage them. Norfolk police is at an historic high with regard to police numbers. Civilian support staff, who now do many of the functions previously undertaken by police officers,( i.e. control room, scenes of crime, custody suites, prosecution department etc etc) has mushroomed and of course we must not forget the 250+ PCSOs. Losing three hundred odd officers by natural wastage is not going to have the dire consequences it would have had say a decade ago as civilinisation of police posts was then still in relative infancy. Specialist squads are an ineffective use of resources. They take on a life of their own and in the end produce very little for the amount of effort put in. Better to have more officers on the ground, capable of doing most things, than taken away from front line policing to form these squads. Ex PM John Major used to call it getting back to basics, which is what the cut backs may result in. One can live in hope.

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BG

Tuesday, January 18, 2011
To start with the police do enforce mud on road rules and most farmers have road cleaning equipment and water bowsers and clean up as soon as they can Secondly in days of yore the police did not take farm crime all that seriously It is only since it dawned on them that farm equipment is now worth rather a lot, is stolen to order to dismantle and ship out in containers to Eastern Europe and that the same people who pinch from farms also rip up cable from train track and pinch heating oil from all and sundry that they have begun to get busy on it.

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Daisy Roots

Monday, January 17, 2011
Leaving inch thick mud on the roads is a crime, but yet the police seem to do nothing about it.

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tim stubbs

Monday, January 17, 2011
Being the only Road Angel Track it now installing dealer in Norfolk we having many calls for Stolen Vehicle recovery system which is insurancethatcham approved approved and can be viewed online for Agricultural, Commercial & Cars www.trac-it.org.uk

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Mike

Monday, January 17, 2011
With likelihood of 400 police being lost from the front line over the next four years the crimes are bound to increase.

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John L Norton

Monday, January 17, 2011
Agricultural crime is not something new. The problems in dealing with it nowadays are a direct consequence of how the force is now organised. In the days of yore rural police stations used to have their own CID officer or officers or one used to be delegated to oversee it from a nearby; but much larger police station. Norfolk now seems to be a force of a myriad of squads and the all round officer, capable of dealing with most things, is fast becoming as extinct as the dodo. There is nothing special or demanding in dealing in thefts of scrap metal, diesel etc. That sort of crime used to be the bread and butter of rural police officers and quite why we now have to have yet another special squad is beyond me. Even in these days of cut backs the force must still be fairly flush with officers to be able to afford to have day to day policing dealt with by a specialist squad. Hey ho its what they call progress I suppose.

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BG

Monday, January 17, 2011