Police in Rural East Devon step up property marking at farms

The Honiton Neighbourhood Police Team have been conducting property marking at farms in their area to help protect agricultural machinery and other items and prevent theft offences.

The officers, who cover areas such as Dunkeswell and Gittisham, as well as other rural villages, have been liaising with local people, alongside the Devon & Cornwall Police Rural Affairs (Rural Crime) Team.Police Constable Craig Amarilli and Police Community Support Officer Darren England from the Honiton Neighbourhood Police Team have been out and about raising awareness of rural crime following reports of items being stolen from farms and workshops in and around Rural East Devon.

Neighbourhood Beat Manager PC Craig Amarilli explained: “Rural crime is an issue for large areas of the country, but it tends to go unreported. It can impact on insurance premiums, food prices, the environment, and can damage local communities.

“The Honiton Neighbourhood Team are conducting a visible presence in the rural community to offer reassurance and crime prevention. The aim is to improve connectivity with the rural communities and provide education to users of our beautiful countryside. This includes attending rural events to gain knowledge about the issues affecting the rural communities and to offer them crime prevention advice.”  

The property marking involves a solution being applied to vehicles such as tractors and other assets of value. Those marked items are then registered on a secure property database. This affords an enhanced layer of protection and means that if the vehicle or other valuable item is stolen and recovered it may assist with detection purposes. It may be identified and hopefully reunited with its owner.     

PC Craig Amarilli continued: “Rural theft is a multi-billion-pound industry worldwide and with a large part of Devon and Cornwall Force area being rural, both opportunist offenders and organised crime gangs will inevitably target our area.

“As a result, rural crime is a high priority within the Force and we urge those who live and work in these areas to be vigilant and contact Devon & Cornwall Police or Crimestoppers with any suspicious activity they see from people, vehicles and drones.

“Your piece of information could be the missing piece in a past crime, or lead to us preventing future rural crime”.

If you want to pass on information please contact www.dc.police.uk or independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555111 or via their website www.crimestoppers-uk.org 

PC Clarke Orchard from the Devon & Cornwall Police Rural Affairs (Rural Crime) Team added: “I would like to develop more links with rural neighbourhood teams across the Force area in our quest to tackle rural crime and in particular farm machinery, plant and vehicle theft, which has significant ramifications to the farming community.

“The Honiton team have highlighted other potential victims of theft in their area and we will look to replicate the same level of engagement in the near future. This type of initiative is good, positive rural community engagement and I would like to highlight the excellent efforts by the Honiton police team so far.”

Local neighbourhood officers and members of the Devon & Cornwall Police Rural Affairs Team are at the Devon County Show at Westpoint, near Exeter, between 16 and 18 May. They will be chatting to visitors about their work and offering advice, as well as answering questions. Show goers might even get the chance to see the Force’s special tractor or have their photo taken with Force mascots Juliet and Bravo the dog.   

Local officers will also be at the Axe Vale Show next month (June) in Axminster and the Honiton Show on 1 August, as well as other local rural events.   

If you have been affected by rural thefts and want to know more about property marking schemes please visit the Secured By Design Website Secured by Design - Rural & Agricultural Security Advice

To sign up to the two-way community messaging system Devon and Cornwall Alert please log on to their website Home Page - Devon and Cornwall Alert  Subscribers can choose to receive information on incidents and local events via email or text message. 

To report crime or find out more about your local policing team please visit www.dc.police.uk

You can also follow Rural East Devon Police on Facebook for local information and updates. For face-to-face enquiries please visit Honiton Police Station on Honiton High Street, which is open 10am until 3pm Monday to Saturday. The public enquiry office is closed on Sundays and Bank Holidays.