Scotland bucking trend as rural crime rates fall

Close co-operation between farming organisation, insurers and the police have resulted in the cost of tractor and quad thefts in Scotland bucking the national trend – and fallingbyalmostahalfover the past three years.

The latest claims statistics revealed yesterday by NFU Mutual, which insures over 75 per cent of the UK’S farmers, show that the cost of tractor and quad theft in Scotland has fallen by 48 per cent between 2014 and 2017.

The fall in thefts of tractors, quads and other agricultural vehicles in Scotland is in contrast to NFU Mutual’s latest claim statistics for the whole of the UK – which show that cost of rural theft rose by 13.4 per cent in 2017.

The Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime (SPARC) initiative has seen both Police Scotland and the Mutual team up with a range of organisations, including NFU Scotland, Scottish Land and Estates, the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Scottish Government to react to rural crime.

Launched in June 2015 the initiative has seen NFU Mutual provide over £135,000 of financial support for training police officers in the investigation and prevention of a range of rural crimes, provide support for vehicle and livestock theft detection operations and step up new schemes to prevent livestock worrying by dogs.

“We are delighted that our partnership with Police Scotland for the SPARC scheme is proving so effective,” said Martin Malone, NFU Mutual regional manager for Scotland.

He said that, as the insurer of the majority of farmers and many country people and their businesses, NFU Mutual staff and agents across Scotland were “all too aware” of the deep anxiety and distress rural crime has on people in isolated locations.

“That’s why we work hard to tackle rural crime and provided financial support for initiatives which we think can effectively protect country people from the scourge of rural crime,” said Malone.

However he warned that, despite the turn-round in thefts, there was no room for complacency:

“A new breed of brazen and determined rural thieves are at large determined to steal vehicles and tools so it is important to be alert, report suspicious sightings to neighbours and police and to ensure good security measures are in place,” he cautioned.

Chief Superintendent John Mckenzie, chair of SPARC, said the latest results were encouraging and showed how effective a security initiative which encompassed the whole of rural Scotland could be.

“Working closely with our partners means we can quickly respond to emerging trends and crime hot spots – sending a clear message to would be thieves,” said Mckenzie.