A senior Nottinghamshire Police Officer says people stealing fuel from lorries on the A1 are then causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to land and intimidating farmers. It comes as land owners in areas of Nottinghamshire could soon be getting extra CCTV and lighting to help to tackle rural crime.
The force is in the process of hiring a Rural Crime Prevention Officer to work with the victims of offences including fly-tipping, the theft of farm machinery and plant vehicles and the theft of fuel from farms. But Chief Inspector Heather Maelor, Nottinghamshire Police's rural crime lead, said one of the biggest issues currently faced by farmers is a "secondary offence" perpetrated by fuel thieves.
Chief Inspector Maelor said: "We see the theft of fuel from HGVs on the A1 and the driver of the HGV is obviously the victim of the fuel theft, but then there is the secondary offence where the offenders will travel for miles on quadbikes and in 4x4 vehicles. As they do that, they just completely tear up all the crops and damage the farmland.
Read more: Couple 'determined' as they step in to save Nottinghamshire village's only pub
"They will damage the land, the farm gates and quite often they will intimidate farmers as well so it's one of the big issues that they face. These offenders are causing thousands and thousands of pounds worth of criminal damage."
The focus of the Rural Crime Prevention Officer, when recruited, will be re-visiting the victims of rural crime and discussing "target hardening" measures to stop it happening again. These measures could include concrete blocks, metal gates, CCTV, signage and lighting.
The new role and the security measures that could be rolled out are being funded by £200,000 from the office of Caroline Henry, the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner. As well as re-visiting victims of crime, the new officer will also be carrying out security checks and visits with those who have not yet been the victim of a crime.
Farms in Newark, Sherwood and Bassetlaw will initially be the focus of the work, which is essentially being run as a pilot until the end of the funding period in March 2024. But Chief Inspector Maelor says if the scheme proves successful, it could then be extended.
She added: "Other police officers wouldn't have the skills and time to completely focus on crime prevention and this will be the new officer's sole role. They won't have any other areas of business, so it's an opportunity for somebody to make a real difference.
"These are absolutely huge and vast areas featuring isolated communities which quite often means that you won't have witnesses to an offence. You can't cover everything by CCTV, so quite often we don't have supporting evidence to prove these offences and we often don't know about them till the following day.
"Prevention is the best method, if we can put things in place to stop these offences from happening in the first place then that is the ideal solution. These communities are vulnerable because of their isolation and their lack of supporting evidence."
READ NEXT:
- New shop owner leaves well-paid corporate job to start pet store
- Nottingham charity worker arrived at shop to find intruders inside
- Woman's anger after moving into council bungalow that was almost 'derelict'
- The iconic fish tank that used to brighten up Nottingham's Victoria Centre
- Car overturns in crash that closed Nottinghamshire bypass
