Police tell farmers to speak up about crimes

Information released by the National Farmers Union and published in the Yorkshire Post yesterday showed more than a quarter (28 per cent) of farmers admitted that they had not notified police after being the victim of crime.

It also showed that one in three farmers in the region had been a victim of crime in the last year.

However, speaking at yesterday’s Great Yorkshire Show, Tim Madgwick, chief constable of North Yorkshire Police, said that reporting crime was a vital part of the fight against it.

He said: “We would encourage farmers to work in partnership with us and report incidents to us - this way we can build up more intelligence on where is being targeted.

“North Yorkshire Police has been working with farmers since North Yorkshire existed, we recognise our responsibility to prevent rural crime.

“We basically have three tiers.

“One is serious organised crime groups stealing tractors and other valuable pieces of machinery and then selling them off on the black market in Eastern Europe or elsewhere.

“The second tier is he theft of other machinery such as quad bikes etc, important bits of kit that are needed for day-to-day work.

“The third and final tier is the spate of metal theft we have seen in recent years. While perhaps seen as less serious these thefts are often used by thieves as an opportunity to see what else is one a farm, meaning they may come back again to take more.

“This has to be a partnership between us and farmers in order to work,”

Mr Madgwick said that modern technology was making matters easier, mentioning how numberplate recognition allowed a tractor stolen in North Yorkshire to be recovered within two hours.

He also acknowledged that his force would have to work smarter and harder to tackle the problem in the face of impending budget cuts.

“I have a responsibility to tackle crime everywhere, even if it is the most remote farmhouse in the Yorkshire Dales. I take that responsibility very seriously.”

He also had praise for many of the Farm Watch schemes operating in the region.