Insurers and police must collaborate to cut crime

Rural communities, police and insurers need to coordinate their efforts if the £50m annual cost of countryside crime is going to be tackled.

Rural insurer NFU Mutual said organised crime carried out at farms and in rural communities could not be slashed until there closer cooperation was achieved between insurers and police.

Speaking at the first national rural crime seminar in Kettering on Thursday (10 November), NFU Mutual chief claims manager Matthew Scott said the cost of rural crime had increase by 17% over the past year to almost £50m.

He said the insurer was committed to reversing the trend through collaborations with police units to help slash the crimes which were hindering farmers’ lives.

Pledging to more than double the company’s financial support to police units targeting rural crime to £190,000, Mr Scott added: “There are clearly some very dedicated officers who are passionate about fighting rural crime.

“But this commitment needs to be supported by good continuity and succession planning.

“We strongly favour inter-force cooperation with external parties like insurers and equipment manufacturers and believe this can be further strengthened.”

Mr Scott said NFU Mutual had also agreed to help recruit a second police office in tandem with the Association of Chief Police Officers Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service to help tackle tractor thefts.

He said machinery thefts remained a major problem for farmers, with thefts continuing to rise, but working with AVCIS was resulting in more tractors being returned to their owners.

“Cooperation between AVCIS and local police forces has helped us return stolen equipment to farmers very quickly,” he added.

“This not only keeps costs down, but ensures far less disruption to farmers and their businesses.”

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