Frew to meet police chiefs to discuss rural crime

Mr Frew, who is Chairman of the Assembly’s Agriculture Committee will be attending the meeting organised by Justice Committee Chairman Paul Givan.

Mr Frew said: “Rural crime not only causes fear amongst many people living in rural areas but it also places a huge cost on many farmers who have lost expensive machinery to thieves operating in these isolated areas.

“Only a few weeks ago there was the very sad case of a farmer in County Armagh who died after attempting to apprehend thieves who were stealing his tractor from the farmyard. There are some areas of Northern Ireland which have experienced quite a number of these thefts with items such as quads, trailers and tractors seeming to be particularly targeted.

“The loss of a piece of a tractor not only places a financial burden onto the farm business but is highly disruptive to ongoing work as it will be used every day.

“My own constituency of North Antrim has not been unaffected by these kind of thefts and I have been involved in local campaigns to tackle the threat posed by these criminals,” said Mr Frew.

“Police in the North Antrim area have highlighted the need for communities to work alongside the police in tackling the problem and in raising awareness of what is occurring. Obviously public awareness campaigns are very important and there is a growing acceptance amongst the agricultural community to ensure that reasonable precautions are taken to lock sheds and to ensure that opportunistic thefts may be prevented.

“Similarly, it is helpful to have photographs of the machinery as well as a list of makes, models and serial numbers, colour and a record of any damage.

“However, there must be a strong and targeted police action behind this also to target and apprehend the criminals involved in many of these well organised operations,” said Mr Frew.

“I believe it is very important that my colleague Paul Givan has taken a lead in this issue as Chair of the Justice Committee which can ensure that it is simply not pigeon-holed as an agricultural issue, but that it is recognised as important within overall policing and criminal justice issues in the Province.

“Right across the entire spectrum of rural crime we will want to hear from the olice how they can step up efforts to tackle this problem, but also to see how we can work in partnership to ensure that the very best outcomes are achieved for people living in rural areas,” he said.